Mountains of Resilience

Left photograph: taken from Sebastia, Palestine

Right Photograph: taken from Stone Hill, Williamstown

This work is a tribute to the mountains that have shaped me—one from Palestine, where I grew up, and the other from Williamstown, where I went to college. These two landscapes, though geographically distant, share more than their towering peaks; they are bound by a history of suffering, resilience, and endurance. Both have been witnesses to land theft, appropriation, and the displacement of indigenous peoples.

In Palestine, the mountains stand steadfast against the constant encroachment of the Israeli occupation, which expands deeper into the West Bank, stripping Palestinians of access to their land and their heritage. In Williamstown, the mountains rest on Mohican homelands, carrying the scars of colonization and displacement of Native American tribes. These parallels resonate deeply with me, as both landscapes symbolize an enduring connection between indigenous peoples and their land—a bond colonizers cannot begin understand or fathom.

For natives to the land, the mountains are more than scenery; they are life, memory, and identity. They are cherished, cared for, and preserved, especially when they face ongoing threats of destruction. Today, climate change and environmental exploitation intersect with histories of colonial violence, making the fight to protect these landscapes inseparable from social justice, decolonization, and liberation.

In my upbringing in Ramallah, thinking about reaching the Mediterranean can be an unreachable dream due to Israeli checkpoints and restrictive permit systems. This symbol of longing and taught me to look inward because although the sea remains stolen, the mountains persist, offering refuge and grounding. The two photographs—one of mountains in Palestine and the other of mountains in Williamstown —are rendered in black and white, emphasizing their unity. Their lines lean into each other like old lovers, whispering stories of shared resilience. They remind us that the fight to protect our environment is deeply tied to the fight for justice, identity, and freedom.

Below are the same photographs but in color.