Rola Halawani

(INTIMACY)

' Rula Halawani’s latest series of photographs were taken at the Qalandia checkpoint. This new body of work examines and captures the experience of 'the checkpoint' which has become a hallmark of the current Israeli occupation. There are very few faces among the collection of images rather we are invited to view a multitude of close ups of encounters between soldiers and Palestinians wanting to cross this border. One of distinctive characteristics of the Israeli occupation is its highly personalized quality and the particular way in which it invades and penetrates the space of the individual. At 'the checkpoint' there are no privileges, everyone waits in line, and is reduced to an ID number, and everyone is searched and questioned. It is these qualities and aspects that are conveyed in Halawani's photographs in particular the repetition of inspections of papers and personal belongings. However what is intriguing about the photographs is that the artist documents the nuances of the encounter between the two anonymous parties. In the images we see different gestures of waiting and the postures of the human bodies as they are positioned in an unequal power relation. Via the close ups we get a sense of the different moods of the individuals, tiredness, anxiety and the nuances of the way each person responds to questioning at the checkpoint. Shown through fragments this series of photographs carry a multitude of narratives of the experiences of Palestinians at Qalandia. In a sense when looking at the images one can hear the echo of the people's voices as one imagines the all too familiar dialogues that take place. Halawani's intimate shots reveal a contact zone between the two sides as a gloved hand for example, requests an ID card or an individual opens their bag for inspection. The artist accentuates the issues of repetition and the distinctions of each separate encounter by the recurrence in this series of the large slab of worn stone that marks the site of exchange. In many of her photographs it is given particular prominence and takes on a symbolic quality marking nearness and distance at the same time, it becomes the fixed element or prop in this absurd theatre. Imposed on the landscape it demarcates the place, where the ritual of authority is performed and the site of contact with the 'other'. The particular perspective Halawani takes in her photographs presents us with the experience and phenomena.

 

Tina Sherwell
April 2004