The Afterlife of Palestinian Images: Visual Remains and the Archive of Disappearance

The Afterlife of Palestinian Images is a groundbreaking study of how colonial violence alters and changes visual objects - which in turn affects how a society and culture relates to its own images. Based on the practice-based creative methodology of Palestinian filmmaker and researcher Azza El Hassan, this book explores the re-use and re-appropriation of photos, film and media equipment that have survived looting and destruction, objects which become a constant reminder of what was and what has been lost. El Hassan goes beyond using these visual remains as simple evidence, demonstrating how artistic engagement can reconfigure them into new narratives and establish a renewed sense of cultural identity. While previous research has explored why colonial structures practice native archive plundering, as well as into how a culture reckons with the absence of archival records, this book uniquely addresses how plundered cultures relate to the actual remains of their archives. As a scholar and an artist, El Hassan reconciles a problematic past and present in the search for a new visual experience emerging out of the ruins, finding ways to move forward after destruction.

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Azza El Hassan is an award-winning filmmaker whose works include The Unbearable Presence of Asmahan (2014), Kings & Extras (2004), and News Time (2001). She is the founder of The Void Project (thevoidproject.org), an artistic exploration of the effect of looting and destruction of Palestinian visual archives on the formation of a modern Palestinian visual narrative. She received her Ph.D. from Sheffield Hallam University, UK, and is a visiting professor of practice at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar.