The Catastrophe: Posters and Book of Poems

This project was a personal, artistic venture to explore my identity as the product of Palestinian refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their homeland in 1948. My own grandparents were forcibly expelled from their homes and villages in northern Palestine in this historic year. They lived for the rest of their lives as refugees in foreign countries never able to return to the land of their birth.These photographs are from a database collection that documents the personal narratives of Palestinian refugees in the mid-20th century. Most of these images were taken by UNRWA photographers, which feature Palestinians in abject poverty and most importantly in transience. The title, The Catastrophe, is a translation of the Arabic word An-Nakba, a term that is used by Palestinians to refer to the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians and the systematic destruction of 531 villages, and appropriation of their homeland in 1948. For Palestinians, An-Nakba encompasses a complete loss of land, identity, history, culture, and purpose.