SEEKING VENUES, CALIFORNIA TO ALASKA
Photographs by Skip Schiel from Palestine & Israel
Skip Schiel has been documenting the Palestinian and Israeli reality through photographs and journal postings since 2003—work with a better feel for the detailed texture of life in Gaza and the West Bank than any appearing in US media. Schiel spends time where most journalists dare not tread, amidst ordinary Palestinians, sharing in the dangers and frustrations of their lives.
His work has been invaluable for my own. As a writer for a Buddhist publication whose parents were victims of the Holocaust, I try to convey a view of the conflict that differs from the US media’s, which obfuscates the injustices and sufferings inflicted on the Palestinians by Israel. Through his portraits of Palestinian men, women, and children striving to maintain ordinary routines despite harassment and attacks by Israel’s military, Skip reveals to us the true face of Palestinians.
—Annette Herskovits, Consulting Editor, Turning Wheel, the Journal of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Jerusalem, Israel-Palestine
Negev desert, Israel
A slide show of recent photographs (2012)
I will tour the West Coast this fall (2012) with my photos and would like to book presentations in the region listed below, either networks, schools, faith and community groups, or individuals.
California Bay Area and Northern California, October 5-17.
I’ll revise some of my shows with photos and stories from my most recent spring 2012 trip. Report here.
Negev desert, Israel
With the support of many in my local and national Quaker community, since 2003 I been traveling to Israel and Palestine to investigate and portray conditions and struggles. I have worked with a variety of organizations, both Israeli and Palestinian and joint organizations (see below), volunteering to make photographs for them that I also can circulate as slide shows and print exhibitions. My hope is to open eyes and doors and windows, encouraging awareness and action.
MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS Slideshows, print exhibits, and a movie featuring photos, audio & thoughtful narration, updated from my recent 10-week trip during spring 2012
Falafel, Jenin, West Bank, Palestine
Negev desert, Israel
Descendants of Abraham, Sarah, & Hagar
Based primarily on my most recent trip to Palestine-Israel in spring 2012, an exploration of people and activities on different sides of the conflict.
Eyewitness Gaza
The new show concentrates on his personal experiences and its political context, 2 years after the devastating Israeli attacks of Operation Cast Lead. Youth, their conditions and struggles, child to young adult, is the main theme. I explore the lives of people still living in tents and in recently constructed rudimentary dwellings. They continue to suffer the ongoing Israeli siege and internal political violence, while being ignored by most of the international community. The American Friends Service Committee is a major segment, showing one way hope and resiliency are fostered. (I’ve published a book by the same title, available here)
On the way to Gaza
Tracing the Jordan River
A slide show exploring this historic river from one of the headwaters of the Jordan, the Banias flowing from Mt Hermon in the Golan Heights, to where the much-abused river disappears before the Dead Sea in the West Bank of Palestine. With an examination of the Sea of Galilee, especially the region of the major share of Christ’s ministry in and around Capernaum, the dying Dead Sea, well-watered Jericho, and the kibbutzim, Israeli settlements intended to reclaim land and define the contours of the forthcoming Israeli nation. A slice thru the topography, geology, hydrology, history, and politics of the region.
Dismantling The Matrix of Control
An examination, based on the brilliant analysis of Jeff Halper, of the mechanisms Israel uses to maintain the occupation: checkpoints, separation or annexation wall/fence, permit system, road blocks, Israeli-only roads, military court system, closed military zones, and closures and incursions. Plus how to end it.
The Hydropolitics of Palestine/Israel
Israel-Palestine has scant water resources, but now with the current strife water is a dramatic mirror of power relationships. Through an examination of water in various settings—small Palestinian villages & the Gaza strip— along with large cities shared by Israeli Jews & Arabs—Haifa & Jerusalem—I portray a very difficult to visualize topic. Updated with new photos from spring 2012.
Bethlehem the Holy, the Struggle for an Ancient City
Bethlehem is rapidly becoming Imprisoned Bethlehem, surrounded on all sides by an 8-meter (23 foot) high concrete wall, with checkpoint access restricted. Thus, Christians (the population shrinking from some 30% 40 years ago to 2%) and Muslims within Palestine can rarely leave or enter Bethlehem. Nearby Israeli settlements confiscate Palestinian lands while the local economy, heavily reliant on tourism, languishes under ghetto-like restrictions. I explored this situation from November through Christmas 2008 as well as during the summer of 2009 while I lived in the Aida refugee camp. Updated with new photos from spring 2012.
Quakers in Palestine & Israel (Or John Woolman in the Land of Troubles)
What do Quakers, the Religious Society of Friends, have to do with Israel-Palestine? By following some of the activities in the Ramallah Friends School & the American Friends Service Committee’s work in Gaza & the West Bank (& with references to its efforts in Israel), I show how this numerically small but often effective group has made a difference in this land of troubles.
Negev desert, Israel
Though unquestionably didactic, Skip Schiel’ s images are also haunting glimpses of the perilous nature of life in Gaza. The photographs never feel invasive or forced; they simply capture moments of intimate truth between photographer and subject.
—Sarah Correia (Fuse Visual Arts Review: “Gaza in Photographs: Up Close and Personal”)
Negev desert, Israel
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITS
Female in Palestine
Women and girls attempting to live normal, free lives in the occupied territories of Palestine.
Gaza is Home to One & One-half Million Human Beings: How Do They Live?
Photos of possibilities: how people live, suffer, stay strong and determined—sumud, in Arabic, steadfast.
The Living Waters of Israel-Palestine
A print version of the Hydropolitics slide show.
DOCUMENTARY MOVIE
Eyewitness Gaza (movie)
About current conditions and struggles in Gaza based on Schiel’s photography, directed by Tom Jackson of Joe Public Films. The context is the Arab Spring. More information.
Skip Schiel in Gaza, photo by Mesleh Ashram
TO BRING SKIP SCHIEL AND HIS PHOTOGRAPHS TO YOUR CHURCH, SCHOOL OR CIVIC GROUP/FOR MORE INFORMATION
ORGANIZATIONS I’VE WORKED WITH IN PALESTINE-ISRAEL
Al Quds University (Gaza)
American Friends Service Committee
Birzeit University
Christian Peacemakers Teams
Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel
Friends International Center in Ramallah
Friends of the Earth Middle East
Gaza Community Mental Health Program
Holy Land Trust
Interfaith Peace Builders
Israeli-Palestinian Center for Research and Information
Jewish Voice for Peace (in the United States)
Middle East Children’s Alliance
Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality
Palestine News Network
Palestinian Hydrology Group
Parents’ Circle-Families Forum
Ramallah Friends Meeting
Ramallah Friends School
Right to Education Program (at Birzeit University)
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center
UN-OCHA, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
