Shatt and Shatta

(Shatt) The Beach & ( Shatta ) the chili pepper, was created at 2020-2023 These photos are part of a big series that is documenting the social and cultural anthropology of the city. Shatta is one of the main ingredients of most Palestinian dishes in Gaza. The burning taste of this spice symbolizes what life means inside Gaza.

On the other hand, Shatt is the masculine version of Shatta & the definition for “beach” - our beach which is filled with people from winter to summer. Using both terms is important in interchanging the masculine and the feminine. By chance, Shatta, the hot sauce, is delicious yet stinging on the tongue and the belly. Not a single day in Gaza can pass without it. Neither can a day pass without the sea, the Shatt, where residents resort to in order to escape aggressions.

Using this approach to observe the everyday life and changes that occur around us from the home to the beach. Photographing the same people in two different places and showing opposite states or movement and calmness. I have been working as a street photographer since 2010 and since then have been passionate about conveying a direct and spontaneous image from the Gazan streets to the world.

After 12 years of shooting spontaneously, the idea of this project comes prior to the work itself.

Last year, I was searching for images and looking at changes of the landscape during Corona. My first observation was the changes in colors around us - including the Shatt and Shatta. It was saying something different from what you have heard about her.