Ahlam Shibli (b. 1970, Palestine) presents for the first time in London her recent work, Trackers (2005). This consists of 85 photographs taken over several months which document the everyday life of young Palestinians volunteering in the Israeli army ‘Tracker Units’.  These units were created by the Israeli Defence Forces specifically for the Palestinians of Bedouin descent who are trained to become trackers and are deployed in the occupied Palestinian territories at the borders of Israel. Shibli comments on her understanding that most of them   seek service in the Israeli army as their single opportunity to acquire financial remuneration and social standing. Shibli’s work is a documentation of the contemporary living conditions of the Palestinian population living under Israeli rule, focusing on the basic and non-heroic elements of the soldiers’ lives.  We do not see them involved in military fighting but in training, participating in the mundane routine of the camp and - in the artist’s view - attempting to construct a better life, even if that means cutting themselves off from their own society. Alongside these images are those of the villages from where the trackers have come and to where they will return: men sitting amidst their families, the sites of local clubs, a destroyed cultural centre, a cemetery in which are the graves of those who died fighting against the State of Israel besides those who fought on behalf of it.

Working with B/W and colour photographs, objec tive camera positions counterbalanced with intimate close-ups, Shibli’s work brings the history of Palestinian photography from the early pioneers – Khalil R‘ad to Issa Sawabini and Daoud Sabounki – who laid the foundations for the national language of this medium. Their photographs documented continuities whereas Shibli’s intend to narrate discontinuities, irreconcilable changes and marginal cultures.  The powerful message of Trackers speaks of how the artist’s perception that these people are “now being robbed of what it is that once made them a part of their land.” (A.S.)

Ahlam Shibli (born 1970, Palestine) has participated in several major international exhibitions and institutions. Recent exhibitions include Trackers at Kunsthalle Basel (2006), Switzerland and Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel, Lost Time at Ikon Gallery (2003), Birmingham.  In 2005 she showed her work in important group exhibitions such as the 9th Istanbul Biennial (Turkey), T1 Turin Triennial (Turin), and in 2004 Non-Sect/Radical: Contemporary Photography III at Yokohama Museum of Art (Japan). Forthcoming exhibitions include the 27th Bienal de São Paulo (Brazil), the 2006 Busan Biennial (Korea) and the 2006 Seville Biennial (Spain). She received a BA degree from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a MFA degree in Cinema and Television from Tel Aviv University.