Extra Credit: Saskia Keeley

On November 6th, I went to Saskia Keeley’s presentation on her work of cohorts of Palestinian and Israeli women. Saskia showed us her photography work and the film work she did in Israel. As Saskia stated her purpose in her speech, she runs photography workshops in which participants unpack decades of fear and bias through the simple acts of looking and listening. She wants to open another door to people who suffer from human trafficking, war, domestic abuse, and childhood difficulties. Most of Saskia's subjects are teenagers. They are the ones who struggled the most in Israel because they try to find the hope of their lives and their place in society. Through the camera, these teenagers see the light of their lives. One of the girls told Saskia that photography made her feel that she existed on this planet. Besides, there is a lady in the video that Saskia showed us, she was pregnant at the age of 14. The 14-year-old seems to me to be a young teenager. I can't even imagine any of my friends or even I become a mother at that age. The lady is 46 years old today, and she is looking for her childhood which she had no memory of it at all. She was crying in front of the camera which made me sad. However, she is very pleased to see the kids who find their way of life in the camera, and she has confidence in the future of the country. Overall, it was a very educational and interesting event to go to.