Picture Balata coming to six US cities in April

Four teenage participants from the Picture Balata workshop are coming to the US the first two weeks of April 2007. Showing their work and speaking about their lives, the photographers will travel to New York City; Washington, DC; Pittsburgh/Youngstown; Boston; Chicago and San Francisco.

These young people, leaving the West Bank for the first time, will be able to educate Americans regarding the reality of the situation in Balata Refugee Camp and occupied Palestine. The tour will also give them the chance to see that people outside Palestine support their work and the Palestinian struggle for justice.

The tour also aims to raise funds to purchase cameras, computers and Internet access so that after further training the workshop participants, nine in total, will be able to do everything from taking the picture, editing it on their own computer and then publishing it on a website for the entire world to see. This self-sustainable project will give these young people the opportunity to further pursue photography and other media as a form of self-expression and resistance.

Background:

Outside the West Bank City of Nablus lies the Balata Refugee Camp. Established in 1951, Balata and the dozens other camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan were supposed to be a temporary solution for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who were driven from their homes during the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Nearly six decades later, Balata is home to almost 25,000 residents living on less than one square kilometer—the most densely populated refugee camp within the West Bank. In recent years, Balata has seen hundreds of deaths and arrests, dozens of home demolitions and the camp is subject to near-nightly invasions by the Israeli Army. It is here the Picture Balata workshop was started to teach youth from the camp about photography.

Picture Balata puts the camera into the hands of the children born and raised inside the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Participants ranging from ages 11 to 18 photograph their situation as they live it in Balata Refugee Camp.

Tour dates and locations:

April.6
NEW YORK CITY, NY
Brecht Forum
451 West Street (West Side Highway)
7:00pm – 9:00pm

April.7
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Busboys and Poets
2021 14th St, NW DC
4:00pm – 7:00pm

April.9
PITTSBURGH, PA/YOUNGSTOWN, OH
The Arab American Community Center
15 Belgrade Ave
7:00pm – 9:00pm

April.11
BOSTON/CAMBRIDGE, MA
Harvard University
(Center for Government and International Studies)
Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street
7:00pm – 9:00pm

April.13
CHICAGO, IL
ACME Art Works
1741 N Western Ave
6:00pm – 9:00pm

April.15
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Balazo Gallery
2183 Mission St
6:00pm – 9:00pm

Donations to Picture Balata will be requested but not required at each event. No one will be turned away.

For more information please contact picturebalata@gmail.com

by matthew cassel at Thu Mar 29 14:30:46 UTC 2007 chicago, United States | Bookmark this | Digg this |