Birzeit – September 17, 2025: The Palestinian Museum, in partnership with the Institute for Palestine Studies, inaugurates the exhibition Not Just Memory: Khalil Raad and the Contemporary Gaze, which reintroduces the works of pioneering photographer Khalil Raad (1854–1957) in a living dialogue with present-day questions and challenges. The exhibition juxtaposes Raad’s images with contributions by contemporary artists and writers: Adam Rouhana, Vladimir Tamari, Hoda Barakat, Raja Shehadeh, Adania Shibli, and Rasha Salti, and builds upon an earlier presentation of Raad’s works curated by artist Vera Tamari in 2013, which was first shown in Beirut on the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute for Palestine Studies.
This exhibition revives the practice of Khalil Raad (1854–1957), who left an exceptional visual legacy spanning from the late 19th century to the eve of the Nakba. His works reflect the profound transformations Palestine underwent, from the end of Ottoman rule to the British Mandate and the beginnings of the Zionist project. The exhibition presents selections from Raad’s collection preserved at the Institute for Palestine Studies, which includes around three thousand photographs ranging from urban and rural landscapes to portraits and celebrations, and pivotal political events that defined Palestinian history. Together, they form one of the richest and most significant visual archives of Palestine.
Artist Vera Tamari, who curated the first iteration of the exhibition, states: “In Khalil Raad’s photographs, Palestine appears as a rich landscape, diverse in its culture, traditions, and the authenticity of its people. At that time, Palestine stood at a crossroads: caught between a declining Ottoman Empire and a Western power of vast influence and might Great Britain. Raad’s photographs present iconic portraits of Palestine, brimming with the life of a society deeply rooted in its land and traditions”.
The exhibition traces Raad’s diverse paths: from his early biblical scenes, which catered to the tastes of pilgrims and foreign visitors seeking the “Holy Land”, to his wartime images documenting the Great War, the 1936 Revolt, and the British Mandate’s repression of Palestinian demonstrations, and finally his studio portraits that reflected the modernity of an emerging Palestinian urban society and its social transformations.
More than a display of Raad’s oeuvre and archive, the exhibition serves as a critical inquiry into the art and craft of photography in Palestine. At a time when images of Palestinian death and destruction flood local and global media, questions about the role and function of photography become more urgent than ever. From this perspective, the exhibition returns to Raad not out of nostalgia but to explore his vision of Palestine, its land, people, and landscapes, in contrast to the depictions of his Western contemporaries.
Raad, himself displaced from Mount Lebanon, soon rooted himself in Jerusalem. He occupied the position of an “internal outsider”: distant enough to maintain perspective, yet close enough to capture the intimate details of Palestinian life. This allowed him to produce an archive spanning over five decades, recording landscapes, portraits, daily life, and political and religious events that formed Palestine’s collective memory until the Nakba, when he lost his home and studio. Most of his archive, however, was salvaged and preserved, later transferred to the Institute for Palestine Studies, where it is presented today not merely as a historical record but as a critical space that reopens questions about the role of photography in colonial contexts; between its function as documentation, resistance, and memory preservation on one hand, and as a medium that can, intentionally or not, reproduce violence and erasure on the other.
In this spirit, the exhibition opens onto the work of Palestinian photographer Adam Rouhana, who invokes Raad by setting up street studios in Bethlehem, Hebron, and Jerusalem, where he creates large-format portraits of passersby using classical photographic techniques employed by Raad, but with a contemporary sensitivity. The exhibition includes selections from his project Permission to Narrate, inspired by Edward Said, presented in an archival mode that evokes a “future archive” forming at a moment when the very possibility of that future is under threat, amid fragmentation intensified by the genocidal war on Gaza and attempts to uproot life and culture. Rouhana also revisits the very sites Raad once photographed, with paired images that do not offer superficial “before and after” comparisons but instead highlight the dual nature of photography: preserving memory while also revealing what has been lost. In this juxtaposition of past and present, Raad’s legacy endures: more than a century later, his work still interrogates the present and safeguards memory against colonial erasure
Khaled Farraj, Director General of the Institute for Palestine Studies, notes: “This exhibition embodies a living continuity of Palestinian memory. Through it, we celebrate Khalil Raad and his works, which constitute a fundamental part of our visual collection. Presenting these photographs in dialogue with contemporary art opens new horizons for today’s audiences and reaffirms the Institute’s role in preserving this legacy and keeping it alive as part of the ongoing Palestinian narrative”.
Nadi Abusaada, Curator at the Palestinian Museum, comments: “The importance of this exhibition lies in its weaving together of past and present at a pivotal moment, placing Raad’s historical archive in direct conversation with contemporary photographic practices. This approach not only celebrates the legacy of the earliest Arab photographer in Palestine but also opens a new reading of the history of Palestinian photography, as both a visual document and an enduring voice shaping collective memory”.
The Palestinian Museum is an independent, non-governmental cultural institution dedicated to fostering an open and dynamic Palestinian culture on both local and international levels. It contributes to the production and presentation of new narratives about Palestinian history, culture, and society. The museum also provides a space for creative projects, educational programs, and innovative research, making it one of Palestine’s most significant contemporary cultural initiatives.
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