The images are distorted and their compositions shattered by the deliberate destruction of individual memories and archives. The new details that appear are the result of third-party interference in the image, interference that has distorted the memory and details, so that the people and backgrounds in the image, which represented an intimate moment or a happy occasion, are no longer recognisable. It is like the intervention of chemistry when it digs into zinc ‘clichés’ and causes effects due to oxidation and corrosion, but the intervention here was caused by destructive war machines.

The intention is to eradicate the trace in an attempt to end humanity and everything related to it, which is a visual eradication and an assault on memory and the tangible archive.

Souvenir photos taken by my camera (Mohamed Abusal) in 1999 in Jordan during my participation in the summer academy at Darat al-Funun under the supervision of artist Marwan Kassab Bachi. Various photos of artistic encounters and nature trips accompanied by fellow artists from Arab countries. These photos were taken with a film camera and were developed and printed at Kodak laboratories in Amman, Jordan. These photos remained stored alongside hundreds of other photos and negatives in my home in the Gaza Strip for twenty-five years, until the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip in 2023, when the Israeli army adopted a policy of widespread collective punishment, which arbitrarily affected everything, including buildings, families and infrastructure. They destroyed many neighbourhoods and homes, and like everyone else, I lost everything I owned: my home, my studio, my possessions, and even my photo archives. Photos are considered a permanent record of the place, time, and events within the image. After the military withdrew from the neighbourhood, I went there and found the remains of burnt and destroyed photo albums. I collected all the photo remnants I could find, realising that the opportunity to reflect on memories was no longer available.