Samar Hazboun - Women in Photography

Cover Your Judgmental Eye - Self- Portrait by Samar Hazboun

Palestinian photographer Samar Hazboun explores harsh political realities with a blend of photojournalism, art photography and photographic therapy.

With a particular stake in women’s rights Samar is interested in stories that don’t necessarily get the news coverage they deserve.

Samar worked at Agence France Presse for four years as their Middle East Photo Editor – an experience which she eventually found cumulatively harrowing.

She is a recipient of the Magnum Arab Documentary Photography Programme grant, AFAC, and the Culture in Defiance grant by the Prince Claus Fund, alongside an award by the Khalil Al-Sakakini centre for her Hush project.

What first attracted you to the world of Photography?

Daraa - Past Preserved Project “My wife and I decorated a pink wall in our living room with flowers we received as a gift from a relative in the gulf. We had small lights next to the wall and pink pillows. When Syrian government forces attacked our city they destroyed my house and my wife disappeared. She loved this wall.” Syrian man from Daraa.

I started with photography as a healing a process without even realising it. It was an organic process really and I think I was more interested in self-expression rather than photography as photography. I used photography as a tool. It first happened when I was going through a lot of emotional stress due to living in a conflict zone. Once I left Palestine to pursue my studies I was isolating myself and didn't want to socialise. I didn't know how to deal with all of the feelings and things I've been through. Photography helped me get out of that: it was my therapy. This is why I’m now studying Photo Therapy.

Could you tell me a bit more about Agence France Presse and your past role as Middle East Photo editor?

I worked with AFP for about four years during which I focused mainly on Syria. It was a great experience where I learned so much about working with citizen journalists who are in a war zone, verifying images from war zones, getting the right information, witnessing history as it happens. However working with violent content can really take a toll on you and after several years of working with brutal images I had to stop. I loved my job but it was time to move forward.

At the same time when I was working with AFP I was volunteering at a refugee camp and a shelter for unaccompanied refugee minors where I assisted a psychologist during her sessions with Arabic speaking children. I then started conducting art and self-expression workshops for the youth at the shelter and that's where I saw a huge change in the behaviour of these kids and an improvement in their social relations. This made me realise that I wanted to work with young people so I enrolled in a photo and video therapy course to pursue this as a career. I'm now also teaching at a university in Palestine.

Could you tell me about your 'Beyond Checkpoints' project and why you think it's important to highlight this reality to the outside world?

Amnah (Beyond Checkpoints Project) by Samar Hazboun. An outfit belonging to a stillborn baby, which is the only trace the mother has of her tragic birth at a checkpoint.

I think the interesting part for me was the fact that the same country which claims to advocate women's rights is the one who is terribly violating them and not much attention is paid to this. This topic specifically is Palestinian women being forced to give birth at Israeli checkpoints and it hasn't received the attention it should. In my project I tried to gather as many stories as possible from all over Palestine and combine them all into one project. This was very challenging. There isn't one list where the names of these women are written, so finding them was a struggle. In fact I had to travel around Palestinian cities and ask and find these women through word of mouth then based on that try to find an official document which backed the case. It's unacceptable that women have to go such traumatic experiences and even worse without ever receiving any justice! My aim was to document these human rights violations and hope that one day my work may be used somehow to bring these people to justice.

As well as documentary projects, you also do fashion and commercial projects. Does working in these mediums influence the way you shoot documentary projects?

When you scroll through my Instagram you'll see that I'm into all sorts of photography starting with self-portraits, to documentary to more commercial stuff. I just feel like each photographic genre represents a part of my character. I'm interested in people, human rights and stories around me. But I also love art photography, beautiful visuals and portraits in general. My self-portraits are me telling my story and expressing my emotional state through photography - they're very personal, honest and intimate. I'm not sure if all of this affects my documentary photography but one thing I know for sure, photography to me is an ongoing learning process...it is never ending!

You are an advocate of video and photo therapy. How does photo therapy help the participants in your projects?

Ishtar (Past Preserved Project) by Samar Hazboun Ishtar was always scared of the dark and could not fall asleep until her siblings sat around her bed and braided her hair drifting her slowly into to dream land.

We live in a time where visuals surround us all the time - we are bombarded on a daily basis by thousands of images on social media and the internet. This has led us to be much more aware of how things are presented, both positively and negatively. Our self-image is influenced by what we see, we express ourselves through photography without even realising it. The cameras on our phones have become a tool which we use all the time. Photography and video are becoming indelible parts of our daily lives. The whole idea behind this kind of therapy is using these tools to heal and work on our emotions instead of falling into the trap of misrepresentation and a fake self-image created on social media. Images can be destructive as much as they can heal. It is how we use them that makes all the difference.

In my project "Past Preserved" I worked with Syrians who fled their country because of the war and who couldn't take any photographs with them. We work on recreating the images they lost, this is a part of a healing process where the participants revisit their memory and work on rebuilding an image that has been lost. This process is very therapeutic as it allows for the participants to dig deep into their memory and talk about subjects which never received the platform or space to be discussed in such intimacy.

What did you learn from your involvement in the World Press Photo Masterclass 2018?

The Joop Swart Masterclass was a great experience in which I got to meet interesting people, see their works and get inspired by them. It's an intense workshop where you receive a lot of feedback on your work and advice regarding your career. I really appreciated the chance to be there and absorbed lots of ideas and direction.