Alireza: How did you embark on your career as an artist?
Halawani: I believe that photography is art. Therefore, the day I decided to become a photographer is the day I became an artist. That day happened by complete chance. I was studying maths and physics at university in Canada. The first intifada was underway in Palestine, so for fear of not being able to return, I spent the summer in Canada rather than go home. In order to pass the time, I decided to take a summer course in photography, due to a lack of anything else to do. Within the first half an hour of that class, my mind was completely made up - I wanted to become a photographer. My father had refused to pay my way if I changed fields, but I was lucky enough to have received a full scholarship in photography. I felt like it was a sign that I was making the right decision, as if it were always meant to be.
A.A.: Why did you switch from photojournalism to art photography, and what marked the transition between the two?
R.H.: As a photojournalist, I was an outsider, a professional trying to remain detached. But remaining emotionless was too hard. So I figured that if I did things my way, the way I wanted, it would get easier. But, I was wrong, opening up the floodgates of emotion definitely does not make things easier. There was however, one very definite turning point, and that was when a child, a boy I knew, was shot dead in front of me, with a stone in his hand. That was the day I quit my job in photojournalism.
