Basma Abu Huti Untitled, 2023

Basma Abu Huti’s work was born out of an enduring gaze upon Jaffa, a city where the sea, the urban landscape and the political reality are inextricably intertwined. Her camera lingers on changing landscapes, crumbling houses and processes of renewal, on neglect and everyday moments of intimacy. In doing so, she delineates the lived experience of a Palestinian-Arab woman in Israel, in a city undergoing transformation.

The two photographs show two women, sitting at the meeting point of land and sea. In one photograph they are leaning against each other facing relatively calm waters; in the other – a wave crashes violently toward them. Although the sea changes its aspect, their posture remains virtually unchanged. This steadfastness transforms the human body into an anchor point within an unstable space, offering an image of standing together in the face of the uncontainable.

The sea, as an active force, embodies in the context of this exhibition the uncertainty inherent in the city and within which it exists. The photographs present a moment of encounter between body, place and time. The human closeness they depict is a form of survival, belonging and devotion to a space that, even in its turbulent moments, remains a home.