For My Father

• Photographer
  Rula Halawani

“For My Father” shares the ephemeral nature, and difficulty of attempting to reclaim a past in an environment that is rapidly changing, and becoming unrecognizable. It was photographed on the spectrum wavelengths of an Infrared lens, beyond what our eyes can see. While I cannot replicate the memories of my childhood visits to these hills, seashores, towns and villages–now all contested landscapes claimed by others, these photographs do capture my alienation. They describe the loss of historical memory that occurs when political conflict creates social ruptures, and remind me that I’m a stranger in my father’s land.