Damascus Gallery

Haretha A. W. Yousuf was born in Damascus in 1973. Haretha received a degree in Cinematography (TV, Cinema and Photography) from the Institution for Practical Arts in Damascus in 1995. After which he moved to Beirut, Lebanon to continue his studies in Business Administration. During the time he was in Lebanon he worked as a photographer for the english language magazine "Eye on Beirut". Since moving back to Damascus he has worked as a freelance photographer for The Independent (UK) Het Algemeen Dagblad Magazine (The Netherlands) Choices Magazine (UNDP) and UNRWA reports. He is also a a contributing photographer at Syria Today Magazine.

Tanf Refugee Camp, Syrian-Iraqi border . "Since the early days of my childhood, my grandfather, on my mom's side, always told me stories about how beautiful Haifa, Palestine was. At the same time my grandmother used to tell me how hard it was for her to get out of Palestine as a refugee. My mom, a doctor for the last forty year, used to talk about how fortunate her family was not to live in camps like most of Palestinian refugees who fled to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, however, till her late high school days she had vowed not to smile as long as her land was occupied and her people were refugees. I never had the chance to see those camps; in Syria, they turned into towns and big neighborhoods by the time I was old enough to know what was happening around me. Although the tragedy was always present, I thought those days of Palestinian refugee camps are never to be repeated. Unfortunately I was wrong. In 2006 about 350 Palestinian and their families fled Iraq in fear for their lives.   Contrary to 1948, this time they were not fleeing the Israeli soldiers, rather, for the shame of circumstances, they were running from the arbitrary killing machines in Iraq. In 1948 Arab countries received the Palestinians refugees with open arms. In 2007, no one will take them in for free. The best most Arab countries could do was to keep them between borders, giving them minimum means to stay alive. Until now, I cannot show my mother the product of two hours photographing in the Tanf Palestinian-Iraqi refugee camp in fear of reviving her sorrows." The photographs that Haretha made for the workshop were since published in the English language magazine Syria Today.

Email harethayousuf@yahoo.com