Picture Balata

Picture Balata put the camera into the hands of the children born, raised, and living under the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Participants, ranging in age 11 to 18, photograph their life in the Balata refugee camp.

Located outside of the West Bank city of Nablus, the Balata refugee camp is home to almost 25,000 residents living on less than one square kilometer. It is the most densely populated refugee camp in the West Bank. In recent years, Balata has seen hundreds of deaths and arrests, dozens of home demolitions, and near-nightly invasions by the Israeli Defense Forces. It is here, the Picture Balata workshop was started to teach youth from the camp about photography. What resulted was a way for the youth to document their lives and tell their stories.

From April 4 to April 18, four of the Picture Balata photographers will travel to the US to display their photographs and talk about their lives growing up in Balata refugee camp.

An Evening with Picture Balata
Friday, March 23, 7:00
Butler Board Room
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20016

Join Hussein Ibish, Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine and Executive Director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-Americans; Phyllis Bennis, co-founder, U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation and Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS); and Hurriyah Dabkeh Troupe for an evening to benefit Picture Balata.

Light fare will be served

Tickets: $20 general admission $10 w/Student ID.

To RSVP, or for further information, please email DCPictureBalata@gmail.com

Photo Exhibit
Attend the exhibition opening where 4 of the young photographers from Balata discuss their work.

Saturday April 7 from 4:00 to 6:30

Busboys and Poets
2021 14th, St. NW
Washington, DC 20009

Gallery Exhibit
April 8 through 30. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
1732 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20007By appointment only, contact DCPictureBalata@gmail.com