The tender, poignant and powerful moments captured in photo festival

5 hours ago 4

In occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood, Najah al-Rajabi tenderly cares for her grandson Awad, who has lived in a coma for six years. The family has been told that they either have to vacate their home by November 14 or be forced to leave by Israeli authorities.

The 69-year-old widow worries about who will look after Awad when she dies, and the looming threat of homelessness for the 18 family members in the home terrifies her. His bedroom is covered in yellow and orange flowers, part of a neighbourhood project by pro-Palestinian artists called “I witness Silwan”.

Najah al-Rajabi and her grandson Awad Nasser al-Rajabi in the family home in the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood of Silwan, East Jerusalem.

The stories of the al-Rajabi family and Silwan will live on, immortalised by the Herald’s chief photographer, Kate Geraghty, who has been recognised in Australia’s largest photography festival awards, Head On, for her portrait of the intimate moment between the grandmother and grandson.

“It’s an incredible honour to be a finalist among such talented photographers,” Geraghty said. “The main thing for me is that ... it’s another opportunity for their story to be told.

“The family, by allowing Awad to be photographed for the first time, was not just to highlight their family’s plight, but the plight of all Palestinians.

“I’m proud that the Herald continues to tell stories like this.”

Murals on the houses of the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood seek to draw attention to the eviction of Palestinians from their homes.

The Head On Photo Festival begins on Friday with the award ceremony, where Geraghty is nominated in the prestigious portraiture category.

Held throughout November, the festival showcases a range of independently selected images by 700 photographers from around the world, in 110 free exhibitions across Australia.

The most popular exhibition along Bondi Beach promenade will showcase a range of Walkley Award-winning sports photography, including one by Herald photographer Wolter Peeters.

70 years of Walkley Awards” along the Bondi beachfront.

Other major exhibition sites include Bondi Pavilion Gallery and Paddington’s Reservoir Gardens.

On Sunday, the festival will also screen the Australian premiere of the controversial documentary The Stringer, which investigates claims that one of the most recognisable pictures from the Vietnam War, “The Terror of War” (better known as Napalm Girl), was not actually taken by the photographer who sold it to Associated Press.

Founded by a photographic “reject” who felt as though photographic exhibitions in the early 2000s were exclusionary, Head On director Moshe Rosenzveig said his team received thousands of submissions, all without names, to judge independently.

“The variety is huge,” he said, but Geraghty’s portraiture prize finalist stuck out as a “beautiful [portrait], lots of emotion in a very powerful, intimate moment between the grandmother and grandson”.

Documentary The Stringer is based on a dispute about the iconic Terror of War (also known as Napalm Girl) photograph, taken in 1972.

Picture editor Carl Robinson in the Associated Press office in Ho Chi Minh City, then Saigon, in The Stringer.

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