Photoday | Galerie | MASTERCLASS 2016 | Frank Ostyn - KASK

With Memories of Palestine, I try to tell a story about Palestine outside of the mainstream media stereotypes. As most of the Palestinians live outside of their country, I use the perspective of the Palestinian Diaspora and interview Palestinians across the World (Europe, Canada, USA, Chile, Australia, Dubai...). Those interviews are not finished, next year I plan do more in the Arab countries around Palestine. What I have done so far is available on www.memoriesofpalestine.com. In parallel, I am documenting the projects of several NGO's in Israel and Palestine. As I travel in the region, I cannot ignore the stories from the Diaspora. They are the main inspiration for my work. I am doing this because I care. This is not a scientific project, it is driven by coincidence, encounters and emotions. But many of the shared emotions can be a key to empathise with the people from Palestine. As for the format: there is no way that I could have done this without being a photographer but the end result had to be more than photography. It is many things: a video, a website, a book, photography and storytelling, personal encounters and future collaborations.