ARTIST STATEMENT
This project began from thoughts about my network of women who have been supportive, safe, and influential in my life, especially since I moved to live on my own. These thoughts slowly formed into a desire to situate myself among a generation of women who I feel are living in a time where Palestinian society is going through slow but radical change. As I turned 30 in 2021, I decided to seek out Palestinian women who were born in the same year as me to try and create a picture of where we stand today. The result is this work in progress which currently includes 17 portraits of Palestinian women all born in 1991.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nadine is an independent Palestinian photographer/translator/interpreter who recently moved to Chicago to pursue her master’s in architecture. She works using mainly medium and large format film cameras and her practice in photography expresses several levels of interest she has in her surroundings and in the medium itself. Nashef’s photographs are both an extension of her experiences, her inner life, and a way for her to observe, take in and reflect on the world around her. Nadine’s work includes a mix of observations on human space, attachment to surroundings, memory, and documentary photography. In recent years, her work has been exhibited at the student SITE Galleries at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah and Al-Ma’mal Foundation for the Contemporary Arts in Jerusalem. In addition to her art, her photographs documenting protests and police brutality in Palestine and specifically Haifa have been published in local and international news outlets.
© Nadine Nashef