Up and Running - The Programmes in 99

After securing the Ford Foundation grant in 1998, valuable practical donations also started to arrive. There was photography lab equipment from the UNDP, office equipment from Dr. Baerbel Stark and the Youth Press Organization of Brandenburg, picture frames from the Goethe Institute and Hessen, and assistance with books and publications from Pro-Helvetia. There were also committed volunteers like Ilona Hazboun, Daphna Golan and Kristin Klank, and assistance for Al-Ma'mal's participation in Sao Paulo from Pauline Laboulaye and George Nasser. During this early period, plans were being made on the basis that the Tile Factory would be up and running within a year or two. However, as progress on the Tile Factory continued to remain elusive, Al-Ma’mal’s programmes constantly had to juggle with available space and time:

It was very hard. Organising all the photography workshops, exhibitions, artists-in-residence and artist projects, in parallel with trying to get the Tile Factory up and running was extremely frustrating and very time consuming. (Jack Persekian, 2010)

Despite this, all of Al-Ma’mal’s programmes went ahead in 1999. The photography workshops continued with the existing partners and also expanded to include four more: the Palestinian Youth Club, the Arab Catholic Club, the Medical Relief Society and the African Community Centre. Three more instructors were also taken on board: Osama Silwadi, Atta Oweisat and Montserrat Casanova, and in late 1999, Al-Ma’mal launched two contemporary art workshops as well. These were taught by Nina Vero and took place in the Coptic School in Jerusalem and Dheishe Refugee Camp in Bethlehem.

Palestinian artist-in-residence in 1999 was film-maker, Sobhi Zubaidi but the first Al-Ma'mal international artists-in-residence also arrived in Jerusalem that year. In the continuing absence of the Tile Factory, the artists were hosted by the East Jerusalem YMCA. The first was American photographer, Zoe Leonard (above) who participated in a photography workshop program and had a solo exhibition at Al-Ma'mal. The second was Swiss photographer, Beat Streuli whose street portraits of young people in Jerusalem were exhibited at Anadiel and the third, was German photographer Peter Riedlinger (below) residency spanned 1999 and 2000.

Other exhibitions in 1999 included a 'A Greek in India' by photographer Anis Georgiou and a show of work produced by the second batch of workshop trainees. The work produced in the 98 and 99 workshops was published a year later in a book called Xposure along with the images created by the visiting artists. The backdrop to all the photography is Jerusalem and the city features in most of the work. Trainees photographed their environment and neighbourhoods and their families and friends, while the architecture and people of the city dominate the work of the artists-in-residence. A photography series by 1998 workshop tutor, Noel Jabbour was also included in Xposure.