Startling images of the Middle East
Tanya Habjouqa/NOORTanya Habjouqa’s Occupied Pleasures project reveals moments of black humour in Gaza and the West Bank. She describes finding a unique entry point into a hyper-narrated place.
Tanya Habjouqa/NOORTanya Habjouqa was born in Jordan, and raised between there and Texas. The photographer worked for news agencies in the Middle East – until she started to question the narrative of the mainstream media.
Photo: Gaza City, June 2013: A toy delivery van on the Gaza beach highway (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
West Bank, August 2013: Three boys splash around in a plastic paddling pool (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
Tanya Habjouqa/NOORHabjouqa started on the project Occupied Pleasures in 2009. Her images reveal the lives of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank in a nuanced way, offering glimpses of everyday resilience.
Photo: Gaza, June 2013: A young girl plays on the beach in the dress she wore to a wedding the night before (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
Tanya Habjouqa/NOORHabjouqa was inspired to start the project after hearing about a Jordanian woman who fell in love with her husband via Skype and was smuggled into Gaza through an underground tunnel, wearing her wedding dress.
Gaza City, June 2013: A young fiancée goes wedding dress shopping in Gaza. Her future husband is working in Libya, where she hopes to join him (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR“Humour… allows you into surprising places,” says Habjouqa. “Black humour is very endemic to the region, and a survival coping mechanism.”
Photo: West Bank, April 2014: A man walks through a village wrapped in celebratory tinsel (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
West Bank, August 2013, on the last evening of Ramadan: After traffic at the Qalandia checkpoint, a young man bringing a sheep home for the Eid celebration smokes in his car (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
Tanya Habjouqa/NOORPhoto: Gaza, June 2013: Free runners near their refugee camp in Gaza (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
West Bank, 6 January 2013: Hayat (left) teaches yoga to the residents of her village, on the outskirts of Bethlehem (Credit: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR)
