“We must choose the identity, not let the identity choose us”. Hamzeh, 27, from Al Mansi - Haifa and Burqa - Nablus.
When The Grapes Were Sour is an ongoing multimedia documentary photography project that combines photography, audio and applied traditional Palestinian embroidery to printed portraits of Palestinians in exile. Depending on the story, related archival images are also incorporated.Through this project, Rasha Al Jundi aims to create personal accounts of individuals who identify as Palestinian exiles around the world.Since its launch in October 2022, the project has documented 36 stories of Palestinian exiles in Amman, Berlin, Edinburgh, London and Nairobi. More than 75 images have been produced, embroidered and digitalized.
Since some participants come from the same place of origin, 26 unique Palestinian villages, towns and cities have been featured in the documented stories.
It has been 76 years since the Palestinian people suffered the traumatic events that led to the Nakba, or catastrophe, which has started in the early months of the year 1948. While the Nakba climaxed on May 15th, and led to the forced expulsion of more than 800,000 Palestinians, it continued throughout that same year. Many argue that it continues, to this day, in the form of gradual ethnic cleansing. Indeed, on October 7th 2023, the massive military campaign that has been launched by the Zionist occupation forces on the besieged Gaza Strip and parts of the occupied West Bank, has displayed clear the genocidal intent both in practice by the Zionist settler colony.
Many Palestinian exiles whether in urban, rural or refugee camp settings still have hope to return to the homeland. With time, this dream and internationally acknowledged right gets more complicated. Yet it never completely disappears from the back of the minds and hearts of some exiles. Others chose to erase their connection to their roots either due to trauma, shame or their own hope to shape a firm identify by adopting a new one.
Artist statement on the project:
"Being Palestinian in exile myself, I have always wanted to reach out to other fellow Palestinian exiles and listen to their stories in an attempt to find myself through those stories and cope with the daily news in the occupied homeland. Embroidery has been a vital part of my family since my childhood. I grew up watching my mother, aunts and both grandmothers create dresses with their hands. It has always been part of my own story.
As Palestinian exiles, we collectively struggle with our identity, fragmentation and the presently hostile political climate against our right to self determination. Therefore, I also aim to illustrate to a Palestinian and a non-Palestinian audience that no matter how specific twists in history resulted in categorizing us according to the identification cards we carry or privileges we my have acquired in new contexts, that we have a shared thread. A common link. A hope, a dream, a stubborn love for Palestine.
Rasha Al Jundi (1984) is a Palestinian documentary photography and visual storyteller. She grew up in the UAE, after which she moved to Lebanon to pursue higher education. During her seven year stay in Lebanon, she volunteered with the Lebanese Red Cross and worked with a local NGO in coordinating rural development programs around Lebanon. Between 2009 and 2021, she worked with several local and international civil society and non-governmental organisations, in the Near East, north and sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout, her camera was her companion and she used it to document stories of the people she served during those years. Her work generally follows a social documentary pathway and focuses on colonial links to social, political and cultural themes. She seeks to illustrate stories that she personally connects with. In 2022, Rasha graduated from the Documentary and Visual Photojournalism program at the International Center for Photography (ICP), New York, and won several grants including the inaugural Tom Stoddart award from the Ian Parry grant (2022) and the Revolutionary Storyteller Grants from Photographers Without Borders (2024). She has designed and produced several zines and has been collaborating with other multidisciplinary artists for different projects. Her work has been exhibited in different cities including Amman, Beirut, Berlin, Jerusalem, London, New York and Tokyo.
