Artist Statement

The Writing on the Wall*

These snapshots were taken in Gaza in Palestine early last year at the height of the siege. There are metaphysical walls surrounding Gaza, and there are walls inside the city – enclosing the inhabitants, and labyrinth of refuge.There are no street signs, only the powerful movement of calligraphy on the endless walls…Streets become identified by what is written on them.With no sense of direction, I follow the movement of words on the walls, extending through the city hiding everything behind in cautious and ambiguous silence. Let myself submerge to this.Gaza has the feeling of some kind of backdrop for camouflaged theatre trying to contain reality over bursting with blood and pain. The street calligraphy is in intense conversation with me, with everyone passing. It is telling the daily story of the city and its people. To whom? To the city itself as few could enter or leave Gaza. I was a stranger there, but I got strangely engaged to place. Everyday new painted messages appear on top of old ones.There were no more barriers between me and them as the messages spoke of somebody’s love, somebody’s sorrow, somebody’s anger and somebody’s hope, as the people marked their personalities onto the walls of the city.

My photographs contain random words and snippets of sentences coming straight from the walls in Gaza, overstitching events, separated by time and space. These are not war images, but the echo of occupation adds to the sense of solitude and isolation in this photographs.Without getting inside what those walls were hiding from me I got the deep feeling of this isolated place by visualizing voices and lives of those who enclosed me in their personal space.Suddenly public and private were changing places.I got into the city’s secret diary, and accidentally read everything I wanted to, including those letters on the street walls sent to anyone and no-one.

Alyana Cazalet, artist

* “The Writing on the Wall”, Said of something foreshadowing trouble or disaster. The reference is to Daniel 5:5 – 31, when a mysterious hand appeared writing on the wall while Belshazzar was feasting. Daniel interpreted the words (‘mene, mene, tekel, upharsia’) to him as portending his downfall and that of his kingdom. Belshazzar was slain that night.

From Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.