Samar Abu Elouf, a photographer from Gaza, spent the first weeks of Israel’s bombardment sleeping in cars and on the floor of a hospital. Her house was gone. She alternated between photographing the bloodshed around her and searching for food and fuel, snatching a few moments here and there to see her children.
But in December 2023, as Israel’s retaliation against Hamas intensified, she made the excruciating choice to evacuate and take her children to safety in Qatar. There, she felt purposeless, torn from the home and the work she loved. It helped that her family was staying in the same apartment complex as other Gazans, badly wounded people who had been evacuated to Qatar for medical treatment, and their families. She bonded with them as their children played together.
The New York Times asked Abu Elouf to make portraits of these survivors. It took time for her to learn portraiture, but the survivors opened up to her almost instantly.
The resulting portraits are sensitive and wrenching, taken with the empathy of someone who has endured similar pain, movingly showing the evacuated as they are, trying to adjust to life in a strange land without legs, arms, an eye, a family.
Artist Bios
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Samar Abu Elouf
Samar Abu Elouf was born and raised in the Gaza Strip. A self-taught photojournalist, she has worked in Gaza since 2010, documenting daily life, news and the profound effects of conflict on her country. In the last few years, Abu Elouf has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award, the George Polk Award in Photojournalism, the Overseas Press Club’s Robert Capa Gold Medal and Olivier Rebbot Award, and the National Press Club’s News Photography Award. A photo from this exhibit was named the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year.
Organizations
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The New York Times
Since 1851, the New York Times has been on the ground reporting stories from around the globe that no one else was telling. How we tell those stories has changed, but our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world has remained constant.
Out of Gaza
Featuring: Samar Abu Elouf
Curated by: Mona Boshnaq Gaia Tripoli
Locations
View Location Details Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
This location is part of Brooklyn Bridge Park
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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.
