'Hush' - Gender Based Violence in Palestine


  • Photographer
    Samar Hazboun
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2011

Documentary photographer and visual artist Samar Hazboun centres her main body of work around women's rights, with a particular focus on the Middle East. Born in Jerusalem and raised in Palestine, Hazboun first explored photography whilst pursuing a degree in International Relations at Metropolitan University in Prague. Over the past eight years, her authentic interest in political expression through art and her personal relationship with the Palestinian case has led her to successfully fuse subject matter and medium into a budding practice of photojournalism. Hazboun's career has developed hand-in-hand with her ability to reach out to those who have been marginalised by society. With more than ten solo shows and twenty group exhibitions in over eight countries, and a wide variety of features in the media, she has persistently sought to give a voice to her projects and engage an ever-broadening public with stories desperately in need of an audience. In 2011, following the completion of her MA in Photojournalism from the University of Westminster in London, Hazboun set out to work in the United Kingdom on a series of exhibitions of her latest ongoing body of work, Hush. She currently lives and works between London and Palestine.

Story

Hush is a project that maps the various stories of a group of Palestinian women,
who became victims of gender-based violence and were consequently placed in a shelter.
The project clearly denounces the violence and harsh circumstances these women have to live in and creates a platform for the victims to make their voices heard.

“He used to undress me, tie a rope around my neck and then rape me. It became harder every time, as I knew what was to come. I could feel the burn and pain between my legs before he would rape me. I hate my brother.”
- Abeer

Abeer might have escaped her violent and abusive brother after long years of suffering, but an even harsher reality was yet to come. As she marks her fifth year at the Women's Shelter, Abeer is subject to yet more abuse from society. She is still at risk of her brother seeking revenge and carrying out a so-called honour killing. Marriage could be a way out of the shelter for her, but even that will prove a struggle as very few men want to marry a woman who is not a virgin.

Abeer's situation worsens with the Israeli Occupation, as travel restrictions are imposed on Palestinians, reducing chances of seeking shelter abroad. Gender-based violence remains a taboo in Palestinian society as most of the attention is given to political and military issues while little time and energy are left for what they dismiss as mere domestic disputes.


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