MER Article Sojourners and Settlers: An Introduction The full moon over Mecca marked the end of the holy month of pilgrimage. Ten thousand miles away in California, a Yemeni work crew gathered around a pickup truck with its precious cargo of sheep destined for sacrifice. A group of cowboys looked on, bewildered. These farmworkers are part of a two-dec Jonathan Friedlander, Joe Stork • 2 min read
MER Article The Writing on the Walls of Egypt Whoever has something to say in Egypt these days can write it on a wall. Ahmad loves Rasha; the revolution continues; build unity between Christians and Muslims; make Egypt an Islamic state. Private garage, no parking; we are all Egyptians; don’t forget the martyrs of the revolution; apply for a job Samuli Schielke, Jessica Winegar • 5 min read
MER Article Not All Black and White In photography books, Palestine is a schizophrenic place. In certain books it is primarily funerals, masked militants with guns and crumbling buildings, while other Michelle Woodward • 5 min read
MER Article Abbas's Photographs of Iran My work is visual. It’s immediate. My photographs show the process that is happening in Iran. —Abbas Born in Iran in 1944, Abbas moved to Algeria with his family when he was eight years old. As a young school¬boy at the École de Garcons d’El-Biar, Abbas wrote a short story entitled “A Grand Voyage” Shiva Balaghi • 6 min read
MER Article Nature Has No Culture In April 2000, Abbas Kiarostami received the Akira Kurosawa Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Francisco Film Festival. While in the United States, Kiarostami visited New York City, where the Andrea Rosen Gallery mounted the first US exhibition of Kiarostami’s photographs. The photographs, which Anthony Shadid, Shiva Balaghi • 6 min read
Photo Books on Palestine George Baramki Azar, Palestine: A Photographic Journey (California, 1991). J. C. Tordai, Into the Promised Land (Cornerhouse, 1991). Both of these books present photographs taken in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between 1988 and 1990 that transcend the usual images of stone-throwing youths and gun Michelle Woodward • 3 min read
MER Article Photos and Art from Palestine John Running, Pictures for Solomon (Northland, 1990). Phyllis Bennis and Neal Cassidy, From Stones to Statehood (Olive Branch, 1990). Kamal Boullata, Faithful Witnesses: Palestinian Children Recreate Their World (Windrush, 1990). Lisa Frank • 6 min read
MER Article Before Their Diaspora Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876-1948, introduction and commentary by Walid Khalidi, (Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1984). Before Their Diaspora gathers some 400 photographs to present a portrait of Palestine, its people and their culture, fr Sarah J Graham-Brown • 5 min read
MER Article Visualizing History Sarah Graham-Brown, The Palestinians and Their Society, 1880-1946 (New York: Quartet Books, 1980). Miriam Rosen • 12 min read
