The exhibition "Portraits of Palestine" is part of an on-going project which began during my first visit to Palestine in 2003.

The project was never intended as a documentary on the occupation but rather a more intimate and personal study of the lives of people living in contemporary Palestine, specifically in the West Bank. It consciously avoids the dramatic media - styled images of the worlds press which can sometimes paint a very polarized and distorted vision of Palestine and its people. Instead it endeavors to show the rigors of daily life in Palestine and the humanity and resilience with which these challenges are met. These are portraits of people attempting to raise their families, live in a secure family home, grow up, work, study and travel.

The images attempt to show not only the physicality of life in Palestine, but also to raise questions regarding the psychological effects of living under occupation, particularly through the eyes of children. How must a child feel to see bullets riddle their bedroom walls, to be trapped by checkpoints and fences, or to live behind caged doors to keep extremist settlers out?

In some images the environmental aspect will provide the story. In others the clues may be more subtle, maybe even just a glint in child's eye or body language. But it is always there to be found somewhere …

Since 2003 much of my life has become focused on this work. To a people and a country I have come to love and respect deeply. People who have taken me in as a friend, even like a brother and my only hope is that through my work I have communicated at least something of what I have shared, learnt and felt in Palestine.

Rich Wiles