From 13 September till 3 November, Breda will host the 11th edition of the biennial BredaPhoto Festival, the largest photographic exhibition in the Benelux. Side by side with young talents, top photographers will show their views on festival theme Journeys in industrial buildings, churches, residential houses, parks and the rugged development area ‘t Zoet.
Dutch Design Daily highlights a number of Dutch participants during the festival period. Today: Sakir Khader.
Sakir Khader is a Palestinian-Dutch artist. His work mainly focuses on the relationship between life and death in conflict zones, especially in the Middle East. Khader has made several short films. His first documentary series The Ruins of Iraq was released in 2020. His documentary Obada was selected for the Dutch film prize Golden Calf. In 2023, he won the prestigious Silver Camera for his photo series Life on the West Bank before 7 October. In 2024, he joined Magnum Photos. BredaPhoto is proud to present Sakir Khader’s solo exhibition ‘I have no more earth to lose’ at outdoor location ‘t Zoet.
What is it like to grow up in Palestine? How can you live amid violence, fear and oppression? What does the future look like when the past has been violently stripped of possibility? Prompted to take up the camera after the occupation murdered his 11-year-old cousin Kosay, Sakir Khader documents injustices as well as life-loving defiance in Jenin and Nablus.
It is an area scarred by the dehumanising cruelties of occupation – including ongoing assaults, wars, and military incursions. Nearly 30 percent of these West Bank cities’ residents are refugees, families expelled from their lands during the 1948 Nakba (disaster or catastrophe in Arabic), which accompanied the state of Israel’s establishment.
With the people of Jenin and Nablus, Khader explores the complex ways resistance counters occupation, and thrives in devotion to land and to life. Early encounters with repression, trauma and hardship necessitate resilience. Here, commitment to the land is found equally in the unshakable determination of fighters and the beekeeper’s dedication to his craft. It is the capacity to interweave childhood, family, mourning, play, and loss with an unyielding spirit of defiance, even when born into displacement.
Khader’s background and open approach grant him intimate access to Palestinian civilians and fighters. He bears witness to those who give up everything to sustain decades of resistance and those who persist, with remarkable tenacity, in building lives despite isolation from the freedom of their own lands.
