Landing by Maen Hammad explores the lives of Palestinian skateboarders in the occupied West Bank as they navigate the layered realities of Israeli settler-colonial domination. The series, also a book, offers a thesis on skateboarding as a form of resistance to a headspace of violence. Documented between 2015 and 2022, it captures the fleeting moments of escape and the indomitable spirit of skateboarding. Through an interpretive dance of imagery and text, it presents a powerful counter-narrative—a taste of the Palestinian refusal to succumb.
Weaving Maen’s personal narrative with the voices of Palestinian skaters, Landing provides an intimate lens into the everyday pursuit of freedom. It focuses on the alternative headspace crafted by these young skaters. This multi-layered book creates a necessary dialogue between text and image, providing variant micro-stories within the connected whole. Against the backdrop of ongoing genocide and nearly a century of erasure, Landing presents a vital portal into the tenacity, creativity, and decolonial struggle of this generation in Palestine.
Artist Bios
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Maen Hammad
Maen Hammad is a documentary photographer and writer. He considers himself a dedicated creative, always encouraged to explore the imaginative and to play around with the mundane. Maen has been documenting the Palestinian skateboard scene for the last eight years and engages in reciprocal nourishment with this community. He was born in Palestine, raised in the American suburbs of Michigan, and is currently based in Ramallah. Besides Maen’s work in documentary photography, he is also a human rights researcher and campaigner.
Organizations
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
Landing
Featuring: Maen Hammad
Locations
View Location Details Download a detailed map of this location Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
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The views and opinions expressed in this exhibit are those of the exhibition artists and partners and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Photoville or any other participants and partners of the Photoville Festival.
