“No one says to an olive tree: “How beautiful you are!” But: “What nobility and what splendor!””, “The tree that runs along the hills of the West Bank is a symbol for its people. A source of income, it embodies their resistance and their roots in this land occupied by Israel since 1967. Adam Broomberg, a 53-year-old South African Jewish artist, and Rafael Gonzalez, a 27-year-old German and Spanish photographer, both living in Berlin, have immortalised these West Bank olive trees in a series of portraits, spanning several millennia. The tree is at the centre of the image, drawing attention to the details of its gnarled trunk. In the background, Palestinian life appears: the wall erected by Israel, the dense housing, the cemetery.
“I have never seen such old trees! Standing next to the 4,500-year-old Al Badawi olive tree and touching it was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. remembers Adam Broomberg. Think of all this tree has seen, how many empires it has seen come and go…” These olive trees, so powerful in the still portraits of his book Anchor in the landscape (“anchor themselves in the landscape”, not translated), are threatened.
Since 1967, at least 800,000 trees have been uprooted, burned or destroyed by Israeli authorities or settlers. Two of the olive trees in the book have been cut down since the photographs were taken. “It is very important that there is some kind of archive that proves the existence of these trees, which have been there for so long but have become so vulnerable.” for more than fifty years, Judge Adam Broomberg.
Stone throwing and checkpoint.
Each portrait is titled with the GPS coordinates of the olive tree. The set draws a map that concentrates on the south of the West Bank, in the Hebron region, where Israeli settlers are installed in the heart of the former Palestinian city. Adam Broomberg created the NGO Artists + Allies × Hebron (AAH) there with Issa Amro, a famous 44-year-old Palestinian activist, who is fighting to remain on his land. Their terrace overlooks an olive grove. The duo of photographers worked in the field using a large-format camera that requires time and precision. Being two saved them from exposing themselves too much to danger.
“ “One day we were inside Issa Amro’s house in Hebron and we were surrounded by settler children. There were about thirty to forty of them and they started throwing stones at us.” reports Rafael González, for whom this is the first published work. On the ground, “Adam was pushed and hit by the settlers on several occasions, he continues. It took us much longer than we expected to take the photos. “The other challenge was ensuring that the films were not exposed to light during checkpoint or airport screening.
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