Images of the Holy Land

Palestine has been the subject matter in works of many orientalist painters in the 19th century, most prolific of which is Scottish painter David Roberts with his travelogue of 19th-century Palestine as part of “The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia”.

Today for the diaspora Palestinian -rendered unable to visit the land, let alone return to it-, being Palestinian is a corner stone of the construct of his/her identity; a construct built upon an inherited bundle of memories passed down through the generations.

Melancholy for the occupied homeland often manifests in the form of iconography scattered around the household; maps of Palestine -river to the sea-, embroidery motifs on pillow cases, icons of olives or the oranges of Jaffa, and most commonly paintings of home cities and towns. Reproductions of paintings of Palestine such as Robert’s can usually be found in prominent places in the Palestinian households. Such images -produced from an orientalist overly romanticizing perspective of Palestine- represent to the Palestinian a time when Palestine was free from the zionist occupation, a Palestine that currently seems so out of reach. The adoption of such romanticized images could only imply the yearning possessing the diaspora Palestinian for a Palestine they perhaps once experienced, a Palestine their children only heard of, a Palestine they shall eventually return to.

Contemporary images of occupied Palestine seen on the news are often connected to devastating news -bombings, killings, arrests, invasions, demolitions of homes, terrors of the occupation-, so much so that the red “breaking news” banner has become an anticipated part of the composition. Seeing the red banner appear on the screen; an anxiety is induced; what will the news carry; how many houses demolished, how many deaths will it be, not too many -one can only hope-. 

Juxtaposing such contrasting concepts; a romantic “orientalist” view of Palestine, and the red “breaking news” banner, looking at the images with today’s eyes, one can observe the way with which the red banner mutates the subject matter entirely, attaching a whole new meaning to it;  the red banner becomes an element of intrusion to the composition of the images, derailing their narrative, precisely in the same way Israel is to the lives of Palestinians.