Concrete Remembers

This series begins with my visual archive documenting the lives of fishermen in Gaza. Images of the sea, fish, and everyday work move from paper onto hand-cast concrete plates.

Concrete is not used here simply as a building material, but as a material that carries the memory of the place — a witness to homes, destruction, rebuilding, and the continuation of life. The plate carries a meaning beyond its function, recalling the table as a space for gathering, memory, and storytelling. Around a table, people remember the past, speak about the present, and imagine the future. The photographs therefore become a tactile form of memory, with each piece holding a moment from the life of the sea.

In this series, I also use the Japanese technique of Kintsugi, in which cracks are highlighted with gold rather than hidden. The cracks in the concrete become a metaphor for destruction and the possibility of repair, while the gold gives the broken surface a new value.

Repair is therefore not only about fixing the object. It becomes a symbol of rebuilding the home, the place, and Gaza — transforming traces of loss into memory, hope, and the possibility of a new beginning.