Occupied Pleasures has been funded and will be published. You can still back the project or pre-order the book and be included in the list of backers that will appear in the book.

If we exceed $25,000 we will be able to increase the print run and make more books available.

If we exceed $30,000 money will be devoted to producing exhibits in cultural spaces, community centers and museums.

Occupied Pleasures explores how people live through the daily absurdities in the face of an endless occupation. Such ability to find pleasure highlights humanity, and such pleasures are also a form of creative resistance.

Occupied Pleasures has been widely exhibited and published, winning a World Press Photo award in 2014. We want to take Occupied Pleasures to another level. To create a beautiful hard cover book infused with new photographs and the powerful poetry of Najwan Darwish.

By backing this book you can be part of sharing this small offering of peace and joy in a part of the world overwhelmed with stories of conflict and violence.

A Palestinian youth from Hebron enjoys a swim in Ein Fara, one of the most beautiful nature spots in the entire West Bank. It, like many other nature reserves and heritage sites in the West Bank, is managed by the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority

The hardcover book will measure 20 x 30 cm. and contains an introduction, 60 to 70 color photographs mixed with original poetry and proverbs.

Renowned Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish will enrich Occupied Pleasures with his original poems, some inspired by the photographs.

Nothing More to Lose by Najwan Darwish

Lay your head on my chest: I’m listening to the dirt

I’m listening to the grass

As it splits through my skin….

We lost our heads in love

And we have nothing more to lose

A young girl plays on the beach in the party dress she wore to a wedding the night before, at the Deir al-Balah Refugee Camp in Gaza.

Dr. Laleh Kahili, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of London will add her eloquent voice in an introductory essay reflecting on the context of the images. From her introduction:

"We also need imagery that captures the poetry of everyday life, and not only the prose of strife. We need the fleeting wash of pleasure to color our memories in the interstices of devastation ruination and grief. We need to remember the laughter too, the exhilaration of evanescent triumphs, fugitive joys. We need to remember people embodied in their flesh and not just reflected through the lens of news, or prejudice, or stereotype."

Occupied Pleasures is a testament to hope, dignity and laughter, celebrating life in the face of the modern world's longest occupation.

A portion of proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Farashe Yoga Center http://farasheyoga.org/ . Farashe Yoga’s network of teachers are reaching communities throughout the West Bank, teaching a wide range of women and men, including children, high school students, elderly, cancer survivors, diabetes patients, pregnant women, and school teachers, in villages and refugee camps.

Links to Occupied Pleasures publications:

The New York Times Lens blog

BagNews

Wired

ElectronicIntifada

The Culturist



