REHAF BATNIJI

Rehaf Batniji is a photographer and visual artist from Gaza City. Her work captures the vibrancy, resilience, and complexity of life in Gaza, using color to evoke powerful emotions. Rehaf held her first solo exhibition in the backyard of her home in Gaza, and has since exhibited internationally at venues such as Farc Gallery in Metz, Arles, the Institut Du Monde Arabe, Gulf Photo Plus, and the Navy Officers’ Club in Venice in 2024. Currently a resident artist at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, her work has been featured in Le Monde Diplomatique. Rooted in personal experience, Rehaf’s art draws on the cultural and social memory of Gaza, where she once taught photography and drawing to adolescents.

Her project, The Thread That Connects the City (2018–2023), explores Gaza’s suspended rhythm, tracing a fragile thread through its urban landscape. From tranquil edges to chaotic centers, the series maps a city caught between reality and longing. The sea, serving as both mirror and canvas, reflects unspoken truths and enduring yearnings, embodying Gaza’s complex identity.