In her latest work, "Graffiti in Gaza: Messages of Love and Politics," Swedish journalist and photographer Mia Grondahl documents the plethora of graffiti adorning the streets of the Gaza Strip. The book was published by the American University in Cairo Press last December. Grondahl, who spent five years in Jerusalem, was also the author of "In Hope and Despair: Life in the Palestinian Refugee Camps" (2003). Al-Masry Al-Youm spoke to Grondahl about her new book, the situation in Gaza, and her longstanding interest in Palestinian affairs. Al-Masry Al-Youm: What was the idea behind writing a book on graffiti? Mia Grondahl: When you come to Gaza, the first thing you see is graffiti. I went there in 1993 when graffiti was all over the walls; it's part of the picture when you walk in streets there. Sometimes you get used to it, but at the same time, I reacted to it every time I saw it. The first time I went there, it was like, "Wow," and I took one or two photos. But I went there for other kinds of reports--as you know, Gaza used to be a very problematic place, so there were many important things to report about, like people, lives, demolished homes. So I didn't take it seriously--I thought it would be nice, but it wouldn't be the right thing to do by then, so I waited until the second Intifada ended. I wondered, How come? How do these people have this nice calligraphy? Where did they learn it? Also, Hamas had their training courses in calligraphy. From 2002, I thought of it more consciously, with a plan to start photographing, walking through the neighborhoods, and I decided that it's something I had to do. I took so many years and then realized in 2008/early 2009 that I had a treasure with all these photos of graffiti, because lots of things had changed in Gaza and the period I had covered was very interesting because it was the second Intifada. It was a very special moment in Palestinian society and this is the purpose today for showing the graffiti from that period in Palestinian political society. Al-Masry: What difficulties did you meet there? Grondahl: The biggest difficulty was that I don't read Arabic very well. Another thing is being an outsider--sometimes it can be an advantage that you're not with anybody: not with Fatah, not with Hamas, not with the Islamists, not with the secularists. And I see this as an advantage to see from outside. But on the other hand, it's a big problem because you really don't know what's lying under the ground or the layers under the graffiti, why this graffiti is on this wall in this street. So I had to search and understand, which was very good of course. So I wasn't only photographing the graffiti because I think it looks nice, but the researcher in me had to go deeper and wanted to know exactly what was this doing here and why? Who painted it? And then you get very surprising answers. Like wedding graffiti, you realize that's not only to congratulate the bride and groom, it's also a show on the family to show the rest of the neighborhood that we're together, we're a strong family, we protect this bride and groom, never touch them--which is a power show. The same with the shaheed [martyr]... this is hard to understand as an outsider... it's only a memory, it's only to commemorate... it's also on the house and still here it's also a message from the family to the rest of the neighborhood that we've lost a son and the real message for society is that they've lost a son. We shouldn't ask them for anything more or to sacrifice anymore, they had done their bit and supported Palestine and we shouldn't demand anything more from them when it comes to this. Also it's a message from the family that "See, we've lost something important, something precious--our own son." A political faction tried to kidnap me, not because I'm photographing, but just because I was a foreigner. They had machine guns, I couldn't see their faces--one incident at one place, but my Palestinian assistant there helped me a lot. She was a very brave Palestinian woman who saved me. She did a very unbelievable thing--she slowed down the car while the kidnappers went out with a machine gun, tried to open the door and tried to take me. Then she left with the car and they were standing behind us and they tried to follow us again-- but at that point we weren't that far from the police station and the security forces in Gaza. There were lots of things going on in Gaza. Al-Masry: What themes do you focus on in your book? Grondahl: When I was photographing, I focused on things that looked nice, like their calligraphy, their art. Then I stopped to read what the messages said, so I started always from the artistic point--interesting calligraphy, handling the colors, interesting scripts. I decided to divide them into several groups: political slogans, parties like Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and then calligraphy itself, the beauty of it, which plays different scripts and styles. And then there is a chapter about wedding graffiti and another about the shaheed portraits, or portraits in general, murals. Because they don't have the political slogans, it's obvious--they are written on the wall to send a political message, but the mural can also come from an artistic painting group, but the sender isn't from a political party. It comes from the artist and I think this is a very interesting manner, a very interesting group of men and women. So this is how it naturally divided into chapters. Al-Masry: What message did you try to convey in your book? Grondahl: I'm disgusted how the Palestinians treat each other today. It's not honor, it's shameful. I strongly support the Palestinians in their freedom and independence. If I have any message, it would be, "Don't be one-sided." Al-Masry: How can a place like Gaza deliver messages of love and resistance? Grondahl: when people are strong and trying to survive, when parents do everything they can to keep their children in school, to live a normal life despite everything that's going on, I think this is a very strong act of love--and that's what they're performing in their everyday life. The graffiti started with the first Intifada and it was part of resistance against Israeli occupation. For the Israeli soldiers, when they saw the graffiti they either arrested the person, killed him, or told the entire neighborhood to come out and clean the wall. Al-Masry: How different is the graffiti in Gaza from other places? Grondahl: I didn't see any in Cairo--why do you think that is? You can see graffiti in Beirut or in any western city. It's interesting--maybe because they don't have the same culture. Also, the biggest difference is that between graffiti in Gaza and the West. First of all, in the West, it's made by individual artists who want to tell the rest of the world "I'm here, I exist." But in Gaza, it's obviously not from individuals, it's for the parties, for the whole collective. So it's a different point of view. What's interesting also is Arabic, which is a very good language to use in calligraphy--much better than the western letters. And Hamas has developed this. They used it as the language of God, so they treat it as a divine language with special care, and that's why they have their training course. But Fatah is a more a secular party, so they don't care much about it.
