When the Grapes Were Sour: Embroidered Palestinian Stories From The Exile

“I am Palestinian. I have combined bedouin and coastal blood” — Self portrait, Nairobi, Kenya (August, 2022).

Chosen embroidery: the forehead is titled “stars” from Beit Dajan, Jaffa. On the chin and neck is titled “the balance” from Hebron.

WORDS AND IMAGES BY RASHA AL JUNDI

“When the Grapes Were Sour” is a multimedia documentary photography project that combines photography, audio and applied traditional Palestinian embroidery to finished and printed portraits. Depending on the story, related archival images are also incorporated.

It has been 74 years since the Palestinian people suffered the traumatic events that led to the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” that started in April 1948. While the Nakba climaxed on May 15th, and led to the forced expulsion of more than 800,000 Palestinians, it continued throughout that same year. Many declare it an ongoing assault to this day with the continued uprooting and blockading of this Indigenous population.

“It is the most beautiful country in the world. I saw it. The view from Al Karmel mountain… you go up and see the port of Haifa.. and Jaffa. You see the sea as far as the eye can see. The moment you step into Beit Dajan you can smell the oranges and lemons. Jaffa is full of oranges and lemons. The cleanliness of the sea. My homeland is my birthplace and more precious than my soul”, Mrs. Houria (Umm Hussam), 74, from Beit Dajan, Jaffa.

My mother was four months old when her family was uprooted from their village of origin, but she managed to visit one time in 1968. The village was depopulated during the 1948 Nakba and has been replaced by an Israeli town. Like many exiles of her generation, my mother dreams of and romanticises the return to the homeland.

Chosen embroidery is titled “roses”from Beit Dajan, Jaffa.

According to 2022 updated figures from the Palestine Land Society, there are more than 14 million Palestinians inside the occupied territories and around the world, of whom more than nine million are registered refugees.

This renders Palestinians the largest refugee population in the world.

“The first time I went to Palestine, when I stepped foot outside the airport, I was shocked that Israel is a real thing. Before I went there, Israel was like science fiction. Then I go there and see signs in Hebrew, people speaking Hebrew around me.. it became real. I struggled with that reality for a while .

“I would return! If Palestine is liberated, I would return. I know that there will be challenges and that there will good and bad people. I know that it won’t be paradise. But I would return.” Mohammed, 54, from Al Kabri, Acre, the Galilee.

Chosen embroidery is “flowers” from the Galilee region.

Many Palestinian exiles whether in urban, rural or refugee camp settings still have hope to return to the homeland. With time, this dream and internationally acknowledge right of return gets more complicated.

Yet it never completely disappears from the back of the minds and hearts of some exiles.

Others chose to erase their connection to their roots either due to trauma, shame or their own hope to shape a firm identify by adopting a new one.

Through this project, I aim to create personal accounts of individuals who identify as Palestinian exiles around the world. I chose to apply cross-stitched embroidery by hand to printed portraits to keep this key part of our cultural heritage alive while we struggle with our identity, fragmentation and the presently hostile political climate against the Palestinians’ right to self determination.

You are invited to use the QR codes below to see and feel deeper into this story: