© Muhammed Muheisen / AP
A Jordanian national born in Jerusalem in 1981, Muhammed Muheisen has worked as a photographer for the Associated Press since 2001 and currently a Chief Photographer based in Pakistan. He has covered many of the major events in the Middle East, Asia and Europe such as Yasser Arafat’s funeral or the capture of Saddam Hussein and the funeral procession of Nelson Mandela. He has received numerous international awards (Two times Pulitzer Prize Winner, Time Magazine Photographer of the year, participant of the World Press Photo prestigious Joop Swart Masterclass, etc.).
As a war reporter, Muhammed Muheisen takes shocking photos, as expected by the media and by the general public, in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere. But along with his news assignments, he also takes more off-beat photos that are all the more disconcerting since they do not conform to established stereotypes. Above and beyond, or perhaps in spite of, the tragedies inflicted on innocent populations, the cities devastated by war and the crippled bodies, his images help us see the lives that insist, resist and persist, like plants that grow from the cracks of parched ruins.
Muhammed Muheisen’s entire artistic approach is aimed at spicing up the expected history with unexpected stories. His photos are stories, not catastrophes: stories that weave together the unending tale of life. “War is so hard, and I try to show how precious life is,” he explains. His photos and, even more so, their substance – the almost magical moments they capture in people’s lives – are life lessons that teach us how to detect the ray of light amidst the obscurity, adding colour to the grey reality and recovering the life that still exists behind all that death. Life lessons for which children are excellent teachers. Invitations to bounce back and raise our fists high in the air. Even as calamities and conflicts pile up, life continues. Everyday heroes start simply by surviving. They strive to preserve their dignity. Then, they reaffirm life through acts of joy or mischief. They organise themselves in order to regain their rights, and finally, they stand up and protest in order to make their voices heard.
An impactful, poetic exhibit, both light-hearted and intense, off-beat and off-centre, it offers an original, inquisitive look, emphasising the extraordinary in the ordinary, the imagination that deprivation brings, the fragility of hope and the energy of despair. Picturesque in more ways than one.
The photos on display at the KVS were produced by the International Festival of Photojournalism Visa pour l'Image - Perpignan.