I came across a disused passport camera in an old photo studio in a village called Asira Al-Shamaliya. Beeing a specialised camera it had formerly been used to create photographs for Palestinian ID Cards. I saw in this device not only a camera but a tool that exemplified the mechanisms of oppression by in the everyday life of the Palestinian people. An image machine used to exercise the power of the Israeli government to control and categorise the arab population. This specific camera is a device that will only allow for “correct” portrait photographs to be taken when applied under a strict set of rules.
Here I pointed its lens at the infinite landscape of the region. The former strength to control, recognise and and oppress is highlighted in the failure and dysfunctionality to recognise sharply the patterns of nature in the occupied landscape.
Again the theme of the face in the ID Card; the meaning of citizenship vs belonging of the people come into play. A machine that has the ability to manufacture an indestructible power relationship looses all vaiability when asked to represent a sense of place.
