OSAMA SILWADI INTERVIEW "Palestine... How Are You?"

OSAMA SILWADI is a Palestinian photographer born in Ramallah, Palestine. Silwadi began his career over 15 years ago during the first Intifada and has put his life in danger to document the ongoing violence and conflict with the true dedication and passion necessary of a hard news photojournalist. At the age of nineteen, Silwadi worked as a freelance photographer for various local newspapers and later worked for Agency France-Presse (AFP) for three years. He worked six years for Reuters and worked for the prestigious French photo agency GAMMA as permanent correspondent for Palestine

In addition to hard news, Silwadi touches on feature photography and documentary work. In 1997 He has published Constant Giving and Creativity, a book on the lives of Palestinian women.
In 2005, he published “Here We Are”, Photo album featuring 10 years of Palestinian daily life.
In 2008, he published "Palestine … How Are You? featuring daily life pictures of Palestine.
His work has been on exhibit at the esteemed Sony Gallery for Photography in Cairo, Egypt, the Ohio Arts Council in Ohio, USA, Penile Group Exhibition in Italy, Rome, the Arab Students Club at Georgetown University, USA, and the Ministry of Culture in Ramallah, Palestine.

In October 2006, Osama Silwadi was critically shot by two stray bullets fired in the air from an armed demonstrator walking in front of his office in downtown Ramallah. He was paralyzed from the waist down and would not walk again.

Osama has embarked on a project to properly archive Palestinian visual history due to the multiple and continued
Israeli military onslaughts against Palestinian lands, people and institutions in the occupied Palestinian territory,

Osama’s work has been published around the world in countless publications, including TIME Magazine, Newsweek, USA Today, U.S. News and the International Herald Tribune.

Silwadi founded APOLLO Images (www.apollo.ps) in year of 2004 and may be reached at email: osilwadi@apollo.ps.