Life and death in the West Bank: Dutch-Palestinian photographer Sakir Khader's first solo show
There are scenes of funerals, young men posing for group photos before their untimely killing in Israeli drone attacks, and the mothers they leave behind with sunken eyes darkened with grief.
These are some of the photographs by award-winning Palestinian-Dutch photographer Sakir Khader in his first solo exhibition hosted by Amsterdam’s FOAM museum (Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam).
Opening on 6 February and running until 14 May, Yawm al-Firak, Arabic for "Day of Separation", showcases the stories of seven Palestinian men killed by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank and the mothers they left behind.
The exhibition is an outcome of years of on-the-ground coverage in the Palestinian territory by the 34-year-old documentary photographer and filmmaker.
Khader’s exhibition, based on work he did in the occupied West Bank since the start of 2023, blends photography with ambient sound to provide what he describes as a direct experience of life under occupation.
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“I spent months documenting the stories I saw, using both still photography and a small video camera,” he told Middle East Eye.
“Sound is critical - it immerses the viewer, makes the moment real. You can’t filter it out.”
He explained that his decision to travel to his homeland in Palestine for the project came as a result of increasing settler and Israeli military violence there.
“When I warned in late 2022 that the West Bank was simmering, that something was coming, and my employer said no, I bought my own camera and went,” he said.
Raised as a Palestinian in the Netherlands, Khader said his work is aimed at providing a counterbalance to western depictions of the Palestinian plight.
“I believe that this work must be shown here in the West, to the people who view the situation with bias, who see it through the mainstream lens, through so-called ‘objective journalism’. I want to show those people what is happening,” he said.
'To me, it's not a subject'
The images included in the exhibition, presented in black and white, showcase life and death in the West Bank as experienced by its people.
Yawm al-Firak is a reference to an ancient Arabic poem that touches on the theme of separation. Khader’s work aims to connect the ongoing suffering of Palestinians with a more deeply rooted literary tradition and its accompanying themes of love and grief.
“One moment you’re with your child, the next, your child is gone - gone from you, murdered,” he said, adding: “When I’m with these women, it feels as if I’m sitting with my own mother. There are certain conversations I can’t have with my own mother, but I can have them with these mothers.
"And through them, I try to understand my own mother better.”
Khader explained that his intent is to make the viewer of his images more than just a visitor in an exhibition but to share in the experience of being a direct witness, as Palestinians, including himself, have no choice but to be.
“Every time I take a photo of a shahid (martyr), it’s your compatriot lying there, you know? To me, it’s not just a subject.”
“We are people. In the museum, people are displayed, people with eyes, with faces. People are there in a dignified way, protected behind glass. It’s as if they’re looking back at you. You look at Palestinians. You look at mothers. You are at the funeral of a shahid.”
In 2024, Khader became the first Palestinian photographer inducted into the prestigious Magnum Photos collective and was a previous winner of the Silver Camera Award.
He described his own work as reflective of a movement within the Palestinian community to entrust itself to tell its own stories.
“We are a new generation, a generation of resilience, a generation of talent. A generation that cannot be ignored. And with my work, I always try to bring the so-called distant world closer.”
Yawm al-Firak opens at Amsterdam’s FOAM on 6 February and ends on 15 May 2025.
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