Rula Halawani's journey as an artist has always involved looking at the Palestinian land and people.
"I believe in destiny. And indeed the way I began with photography was a complete accident," says Palestinian artist Rula Halawani: "It was just something that came to me."
Born in Jerusalem in 1964, Halawani is influencing generations of young artists and photographers, both with her rich oeuvre, exhibited in shows, Biennales, and art fairs around the world, as well as her role as an art teacher and professor at Birzeit University in Palestine.
While she started out photographing the most excruciating moments of the occupation of Palestine for newspapers and magazines, after nine years she changed her approach, using the camera to create art that was better attuned to her own feelings and opinions.
Her image-making is characterized by an experimental approach to documentation, with heavy use of negatives and filters. Her work explores the Palestinian experience under occupation, as well as its spatial, architectural, and material aspects.
Halawani wasn’t exposed to art in her youth in Palestine. Still, when she was living in Canada, studying math and physics at Saskatchewan University, she decided to join a photography course.
Her outlook on Palestine was changed by living first in Canada and then, years later, in London: "When I was living overseas, it was the first Intifada. I did a minor in sculpture and all of my work was already focusing on Palestine, even from a distance.” Because of the difficult political situation in her homeland, she ended up staying in Canada for almost six years without ever visiting Palestine.
