Photography Exhibition of Palestinian Intifada Comes to Wellington

The Wellington Palestine Group is pleased to announce Bruno Stevens’ exhibition of photographs from Occupied Palestine. The exhibition, Palestine Now, will run from 25-31 April in Thistle Hall (293 Cuba St.). The opening will take place on the 27 April at 5:30pm.

In Palestine Now¸ Bruno Stevens, a world-renowned photojournalist and the only Belgian correspondent in Baghdad during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, depicts the harsh reality of Palestinians living under Israeli Occupation. Images show the strain and hardship of daily life, the ongoing struggle for self-determination, and the celebration of Palestinian culture. They also convey Stevens’ belief that “the only way to bring peace to the Israeli people is by recognising the right of the Palestinian people to live in peace within a viable independent state of their own”.

Palestine Now is based on Stevens’ recent essay, Fences (http://www.photoforum-nz.org). His work has also been featured in John Pilger’s television documentary, Breaking the Silence, which screened in New Zealand in October 2003. Palestine Now was exhibited to an enthusiastic public in Auckland in early 2004.

A spokesperson for the Wellington Palestine Group, Serena Moran, says Palestine Now will shock many people with its graphic images. She also says she predicts there will be a negative reaction from people who support Israel and want to portray the occupation as beneficial to ungrateful Palestinians.

“However the reality of the occupation is that it has actually got worse since Bruno Stevens took his photographs.”

“The recent revelation by Israel that it is to build yet another 3,500 housing units at Ma’ale Adumim near Jerusalem, means, along with the impending completion of the apartheid wall through one side of the West Bank, that whatever hope there was in the Roadmap for peace, has now been shattered by Israeli plans,” Ms Moran says.

“While Israel has made a great deal of noise about withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, it actually intends to move its settlers to the West Bank instead. And Gaza will be transformed from a prison with the guards on the inside to a prison with the guards on the outside. Nothing fundamental has changed.”

Ms Moran says exhibiting Palestine Now is to develop a better understanding in Wellington of the plight of the Palestinians and to create some support for their appeals against what Israel has made into an almost inevitable bloody confrontation to come.

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