Artist Talk by Alaa Ghosheh

We establish memories by seeing and recognizing things even before we speak. This is influenced by what we know as our reality, but what if all that knowledge is changing based on the ways we interact with our world? Digitally speaking, at a certain point in time we don’t exist anymore yet the digital chain reaction we started is rolling in the background in the shape of binary raw data; zeros and ones waiting to be seen, evolving and creating a certain consciousness which is independent.

According to John Berger, the purpose of images and visuals, as with most art, is to outlast us, so the result of its own evolution far away from us is rationale. Usually, when we look at an image it is with assumptions regarding the past, which is considered static. What I am producing has the same sense but without any assumptions, unless it is towards the future.

I started this journey with a quote from George Didi-Huberman,

“We need images to create history, especially in the age of photography and cinema, but we need imagination to re-see these images, and thus to re-think history."

At this stage in my research, I’ve reached the following conclusion: we need to learn to adapt and share our imagination with the tools we have, if we don’t I’m terrified we might not bond with the echo of our future self.

Alaa Ghosheh, was born within the walls of the old city in Jerusalem thirty years ago, during the first Palestinian Intifada. Living under occupation, he witnessed countless acts of brutality, injustice, and inhumanity. From a young age he turned to his imagination and visual creativity to make sense of what was, for him, a senseless world. It seemed only natural that this would later turn into a passion for photography. Working as a photojournalist from Ramallah (Palestine), to Irbil (Iraq), Brooklyn and Αthens, his practice is marked by an ability to connect with diverse populations and cοmmunities representing the life in extraordinary circumstances. During his studies, he started working as a freelance photographer for various local news agencies. After graduating with a BA in Media and Communications from Birzeit University, in 2010, he was hired by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jerusalem where he spent years as a photographer and photo archivist. During this time, he continued his own exploration in visual arts and in 2015 had his first art residency at Villa Romana in Florence where he produced his solo show, titled “Long Distance Relationships.” Since then he has lived in several cities around the world (Amsterdam, New Yοrk, Αthens), expanding his portfolio and working on a new body of work outside of the political reality he grew up in.