It will grow | Maen Hammad, 24 October 2023.
From the photographer: My Teta, the mother of apricots, always holds my hand as she tours me around her land allowing me to harvest eight decades of indigenous knowledge. I visited a few weeks ago, before being two checkpoints away meant total closure.
My Teta doesn't waste anything, you see. Months earlier, she had used the skin and seeds of a previous watermelon as compost for her lemongrass and sage. This watermelon is special. She saw the seed germinate and continued to nurture it as if it were one of her children.
For decades, the watermelon has stood as a symbol of Palestinian resistance. When the Israeli regime occupied the West Bank and Gaza, my Teta's land, they banned public display of the Palestinian flag. In response to facism, Palestinians used fruit. Carrying sliced watermelons during demonstrations as an expression of our liberation movement. The fruit's flesh and seeds mirror those of our flag, mirror those of our land.
Watermelon season passed months ago. However, my Teta doesn't waste anything, you see. It is dying and soon will become dehydrated from winter's siege. Its seeds will rest between pockets of red soil, but next harvest it will grow.
Until our flag is raised on the sniper towers surrounding our towns, and this watermelon can return to become just simply, a fruit.
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