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Artist in Residency - Al Mamal Foundation, Jerusalem
Artist-in-residency in an olive coloured holy land
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16 September 07 a view from a dented taxi. on the airplane, an old lady sitting two seats away says, "Are you going to school in Tel Aviv?" |
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17 September 07 a gigantic banana which is too big to fit in the banana case!!! on the steps in front of the main gate - damascus gate, one of ten year old kids says, "Your country is famous for arthquake. What are we famous for? We are famous for throwing stones!" |
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18 September 07 a boy suddenly started fixing his bird cage with his brother as he saw (?) me wondering around taking photos on the rooftop of the market, where normally their people are the only ones (and cats!) walking through. (too early for tourists?) in the corner shop where i rush to get some take away food, thinking they might close early, an old man says, "Are you fasting with us?" |
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19 September 07 a view from the street which is opposite direction to where all the kids were telling me i was going in a wrong direction to that place. There's a very sharp spine along the middle. (Or is it just me and my eyes?!) on the streets at the mount of olives, i am about to eat an ice cream. a little girl says, "xxx xxxxx xx!!" i put it back in the package and see her thumb up. |
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20 September 07 an islaeri street rapper in west jerusalem, apparently the first one to be seen. he stopped for a while as a couple of girls gave him a grief. he then says, "We are in the same box." (something like that...) he starts rapping again. |
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21 September 07 green mini buses of which some of them take pepole to checkpoints. they can only go through palestinian area. you then take another mini mini buses once you go through the chekpoint. at the hat people's quarter in the old city, everyone i ask for directions says, "No English, no English." without looking at my face... |
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22 September 07 a temporary private knitting teacher, who understands what i say and replys to me in arabic... i come back at 10.30 pm to the guest house i'm staying. the caretaker says, "Oh, you early today." |
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23 September 07 one of many many street cats! this one is seen on the roof top of the market. i almost get lost on the street in the hat people's quarter. a man says, "Are you OK?" with american accent. |
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24 September 07 weeds growing out through the concrete, which is laid over the land alongside the wall. i miss the last bus back to jerusalem at 6pm, i start walking in the dark (with street lights, of course) to find a bus stop which is apparently still running (a couple of people told me that). a car stops and an old man says, "Silly young lady, what are you doing here? " |
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25 September 07 a veiw at the ceremony of photography competition at the international academy of art palestine, ramallah. Many of whom submitted the work do not have permits to enter jerusalem, so it was not possible to do it at al-ma'mal foundation. i go shopping or ask for directions to people. they say "Welcome, welcome." before i say "thank you/shokran."... |
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26 September 07 a veiw of a hut for sukkot, a 7 day festival, starting tonight. i miss the area where i need to get another bus to the terminal to jericho, the bus driver takes me back to where i am supposed to. on the way, many girls who finished school get on the same bus. all get excited and want to talk to me in english. they say, "Welcome to Palestine." |
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27 September 07 a veiw from bir nabala which looks very close to jerusalem on the map, but you have to go out of jeruslem once to get to, so it takes much longer... i get off the bus in jerusalem bus terminal. the guy i asked about the bus route yesterday says, "You, japan, yeah? Me, china." |
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28 September 07 a veiw in the old city at night, special decoration for ramadan. i walk home through the street which is at the middle of two communities. i hear people singing (lalala kind of, sounded a bit like football songs...) inside the hut. a couple of people with black hats walk through. one of them says, "Join them!" again with american accent... |
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29 September 07 a veiw at the old city in hebron. i walk to jaffa gate in the old city on the way to the other quarter. taxi drivers say, "Where are you going?" |
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30 September 07 a view of an event for sukkot festival. no women is allowed to join the dance, found it out by a girl next to me. i walk along the street. many quiet people stare at me. i decide to stare back at them. they say, "..." turning their eyes away. |
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01 October 07 a view from shu'fat camp; mother and son with new buildings at the settlement area in the background. (when i said hello to the boy, he looked scared ... poo) i get lost in lazarus (?) and are given a lift to abu dis by an old man. a bus finally arrive so i wave my arms. the bus stops and the driver says, "Sit down." he drives off, to a bus terminal where the one to jerusalem is about to leave. |
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02 October 07 the main square in ramallah. there are six streets coming into the square. you are 'supposed to' walk right inside the square with cars to get to the other side... i walk back from west jerusalem to the old city. a guy says, "Do you have cigars?" |
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03 October 07 a vewi taken from inside of a shisha cafe, oldest cafe in the old city, over 100 years old! sorry about no images of the beautiful cafe but guys smoking... (the man in blue shirt was talking to jumana) i walk up to jaffa gate on my own. one of the market keepers says, "Hello! ... say hello, that's all..." |
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04 October 07 a view in a shared taxi; all the way from al khadr, through a randam check by the soldiers (we were all quiet for that), to wadi fukin, this little boy was laughing his head off with me... or maybe at me... i ask a man in the village if i am allowed inside the mosque during ramadan. he says, "What are you going to do in there?" |
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05 October 07 a view taken a day after the festival at night in the old city. i go into a cafe bar for the first time in the old city. a bar owner says, "You've been here before. I know what you want. Maccabee? the local beer?" |
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06 October 07 a view of a living room? on the balcony in tel aviv. the posters are of half naked women and a poodle! i am on unusually quiet jaffa road. total of three black hat people talk to me, of two of which are old men. the young man talks to me as we both walk to the same direction, but him in front of me...?! after a min or so, he says, "Have a nice day." with english accent and crosses the street... |
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07 October 07 a view of one of young kids working hard; carring heavy tanks down the steps at damascus gate. i walk through jaffa gate. one of the guys sitting and smoking on the corner says, "Buddha!" |
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08 October 07 a view at 'night of power' at damascus gate. i end up at the bus terminal after missing the stop to nabi samuel. the bus driver says, "You wait for 5 min, I'll take you back to the stop, but why do you wanna go there? It's scary there at night. People live in caves!" ... |
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09 October 07 a view at one of the 'stations', waited for them to finish a cup of tea and call us though. I walk home. a black suite man with a matching hat says, "Ça va?" |
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10 October 07 a view at the bus terminal in nablus, where i now have local contacts to visit next time! i am in the shared taxi going through the checkpoint after having to walk (being pushed?) through a horrific human congestion at nablus checkpoint, where two earthy green uniformed men slowly check out three hundreds people..., the senior earthy green uniformed man who questioned me a lot yesterday says, "How do you feel?" |
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11 October 07 a view at the bus terminal in central bus station, west jerusalem, which is on the second floor of the shopping mall. the entrance of the mall is with high security system. i wait for a bus for 2.5 hrs. when i finally get on, it brakes down after running for 5 min... i ask around about the bus. young kids become stiff and say, "....." and young guys say, "...." without looking at me... |
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12 October 07 a view from the petrol station on the way to the dead sea. a friend and i drive through the security check to the dead sea, the earthy green uniformed man says, "Nice surprise." |
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13 October 07 a view on the beach at the dead sea. i ask the children if i can take photographs of them. they say, "No no no no no!" and start posing. |
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14 October 07 a view at the top of the cable car in Jericho. i walk up to a church on the mount of temptation, a little too late to go inside. i decide to come back to the cable car and sit down for a while. A couple of boys start talking to me. one of them says, "What is your name?" the other one says, "Money?" |
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15 October 07 water fall at the national park near the dear sea. the sea is 600m below sea level. this time, there were some young earthy green un-uniformed men and women (off duty?) and a couple of them with medium heavy arms?! i walk up to the water fall with a friend and her friend's family. the family's son kepps saying, "Wow, this is veeeeery nice."
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16 October 07 a view at the damascus gate with a (police?) man sitting on top of the arch. ramadan finished and the old city is so quiet... back to usual... as they say. i take a short cut to new gate from damascus gate. i see two secret police men in front. one of them stare at me with sharp eyes. i stare back at him. he says, "!!!!!!"
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17 October 07 the front door at the new place. i move to a new place. the land lady says, "Please do not bring your boyfriend after midnight. we have daughters here." * thanks to raeda for translating it for me! xxx |
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18 October 07 one of the only vehicles which can go around the old city as there are so many steps. a man pushing it up the hill to new gate. i go back home about 3 pm to pick up the phone i forgot to take. the landlady says, "You tired?"
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19 October 07 a street with fairy lights in west jerusalem but this is not for christmas... ... sorry, too busy to find one word to make you laugh today...
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20 October 07 a view of the opening tour of the jerusalem show 00, taken on the rooftop of swedish christian study centre. at the middle of the opening tour, the director gives a shout for making a move. a couple of people say, "Where's your line?" i start my line.
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21 October 07 a view of sunday! outside the old city near damascus gate. a dentist comes into al mamal. he sees me walking in, he says, "Hi, Yoko Ono!"
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22 October 07 a view outside bus station in ramallah. the white spot is !!! i am about to get off the bus. a young uni. student asks me if i have a visa. if i do, apparently i can stay on the bus and have an easy access to jerusalem. i explain about my non-visa status. she says, "Ah, then you have to suffer like palestinians."
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23 October 07 a view on the way to a main road. a nice old man finds me a young guy who can give me a lift to a bus stop on the high way as there is shared taxi service to where i'm trying to go to. the young guy asks me how i ended up in the area he picked me. he says, "You came from ramallah? that's a dangerous place! you have to be careful in there." ...
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24 October 07 a view of a new bookshop work in progress at a new shopping mall in west jerusalem. each stone has numbers on. i sit on the dinner table with many of the others, some of them say, "we have to leve by 9.30/45. our permit to stay here is till 10 pm." |
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