The families are subjected to a continuous cocktail of violence, harassments, arbitrary arrests for indefinite time, physical and verbal abuse and always impunity for the settler-perpetrators. I got to know the almost 50 participating women in this hood in the course of several weeks-long visits in February and May 2023. The women photographed their homes, loved ones and surroundings then during the month of September 2023, because merely staying here constitutes their ultimate act of resistance against the occupation. We photographed with small analogue cameras, to convey a more blurry ambiguous feeling in contrast with the digital press images we usually see coming from this region. ‘OM/Mother is a feminist work of love.

We have made a beautiful book on ‘Om/Mother together with publishing house The Eriskay Connection (NL) and the designer Carel Fransen. We did several book presentations, in the company of two participating Hebron photographers Aysha and Sundus Al Azza, in April 24 in Ghent (viernulvier with Yalla Worldwide/Bader Shashit), Brussels, Zaventem, Leuven, Liege and Antwerp (Fotomuseum). The 8 mothers, ‘Om Abed, ‘Om Ahmad, ‘Om Emad, ‘Om Hazem, ‘Om Muntasser, ‘Om Tamer, ‘Om Wisam and ‘Om Yusuf, are the driving force of their families. They are on the cover of the book as a gesture of respect. In Boeks Gent we did a book performance with the Palestinian sound artist Kamel Badarneh/SAWT and Brigitte Herremans. The book was picked up on several book platforms and book shops around the world, like at Bildband Berlin or in Moom Bookshop in Tokyo but also for instance in Fotomuseum, Antwerp, in Tipi Bookshop, Brussels and in Copyright and Paard van Troje, Ghent. The book was nominated for the Aperture Paris Photo Book Award 2024, for the Book Award 2024 category photo+text at les Rencontres d’Arles Photo Festival 2024, for the Book Award APhF Pick 2024 at the Athens Photo Festival and shortlisted for the Oslo Fotobokfestival 2024. Recently it was also on the list of the Best Photobooks of the Year at Photo Espana 2025. The first edition of the book sold out quickly and now the sale of the second edition is going hard.

‘OM/Mother has been published in DS Weekblad (De Standaard, BE) in October 2023, in The Union Magazine, in Musee Magazine, in ZOUT magazine, it featured on De Donkere Kamer, Rektoverso and on culture program Pompidou on radio KLARA (VRT, BE). ‘Om/Mother was on television in the Sunday show of the VRT in De Zevende Dag. I was interviewed on the podcast De Donkere Kamer, by FishEye Magazine, on by Marc Feustel on the artist talks at Paris Photo 24, I did several talks together with Adam Broomberg and Rafael Gonzales, like at Le Bal in Paris and at Double Dummy Studio in Arles and in March 2025 Tom Viaene interviewed me at Foundation A in Brussels. In 2024 there were exhibitions in Liege in Galerie Satelite (Archipel Programma BIP Liege), in Zaventem in De Factorij, and in Blanco, Ghent ( ‘I am the Smasher of Idols’ together with Firas El Hallak, Sirien Salameh and Sam Eggermont). In April and May 2025 we have organized a beautiful exhibition in the West Bank, in Bethlehem, in The Wonder Cabinet, so the women photographers participating and their families also got a chance to see their images displayed on the wall. The day of the opening was a exceptionally special day for us all and for the 120 women and children traveling from their village in Hebron, H2, to Bethlehem. In June 2025 I participated, together with human rights defender Issa Amro from Tel Rumeida, in a symposium in Berlin on the power of art as resistance, organized by Arts of the Working Class.

Currently there is an exhibition on ‘Om/Mother in FOMU, the photo museum in Antwerp, from June 28th till September 28th 2025. We are especially proud of this presentation: there are not only the telling images of the project to be seen, but also video and sound and contextual info. One of the eyecatchers is a video installation with 3 screens with excerpts of interviews of 16 women participating in the ‘Om/Mother project. For the first time the audience can see and hear the women of Tel Rumeida talk of their lives, of Gaza, of photography and of the beauty and their companionship through the project.

Two amazing women from Tel Rumeida, participating photographers from Tel Rumeida, Hebron, of 2 generations, were invited to come to Belgium for the opening, but they did not get their visa. In spite of our anger, we started again with a new visa application and I am super happy this time they got it. So come join us on Sunday 14th from 2 pm! Under the guidance of the women of Manoeuvre, an organization from Gent, you are welcome to embroider with us names of dead children of Gaza. In a meaningful gesture of condemnation and connection. There will be amazing Palestinian food and a guided tour by my great friends Nidaa and Horeya/’Om Wisam. One is a strong mother and grandmother, the other a young working student bio-engineering. Please come and support our project and these Palestinian voices.

The exhibition at FOMU will stay till the 28th of September. Do not miss it.

In October 2025 there will be an exhibition in Bologna at Spazio Labo, till January 2026.

Also, in April 2025 we organized an exhibition on ‘Om/Mother in Bethlehem, West Bank, in this special place Wonder Cabinet, that also hosts Radio al Hara. 120 women and children came from Hebron in buses, some 30 kilometers, they defied checkpoints to see and experience the images of our project. It was an incredible special day, with workshops for kids, singing, play and even a food market for Hebron products. Tameem Tamimi from Hebron made a beautiful video of this day.

On my website the book is sold out but it is still available at a good book store and online on www.erikskayconnection.com for 30 euro. We still sell prints, framed (artist print 20*30 cm cm on hahnemuehle fine art paper 305g, aluminium frame, limited edition of 20 each) and unframed (artist print 16*24 cm on hahnemuehle fine art paper 320g, limited edition of 30 each), of 8 different images, here on my website.

I am very available for a lecture and/or book presentation, alone or together with another woman photographer from Hebron, by zoom.

Important to note: all author’s profits from the book/special edition prints will go to the women’s activities of Youth Against Settlements in Tel Rumeida, the area of Hebron/H2 where all women and girls in this project live with their families. The women of Tel Rumeida and I thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for your support. We already paid for Iftar in Tel Rumeida and renewed the water tanks on the houses of 2 participating families in Tel Rumeida.

We are all Palestinians. Arms embargo. Stop the starvation. BDS. Sanctions. End the occupation. Free Palestine. No one is free till all are.