Ein Hod – The Gallery of Displacement

Once a vibrant Palestinian village nestled on the slopes of Mount Carmel, Ein Hod was emptied of its original inhabitants in 1948. Its stone houses, carved from the earth and memory of Palestine, were not left to decay — instead, they were repurposed, rebranded, and transformed into an Israeli artists’ colony. Today, Ein Hod is celebrated by many as an open-air gallery, a cultural haven of creativity and design. But beneath every brushstroke lies a deeper, unsettled canvas: the absence of its true owners. The art on the walls cannot conceal the injustice in the soil. Through my lens, I confront the duality: the undeniable beauty of the village and the haunting reality of its transformation. I photograph the cobblestone alleys, the old olive press, the panoramic views — always conscious of the lives that once animated this place. The stones remember. The arches remember. Ein Hod is a paradox: a gallery for some, a ghost town for others. This is not just art — it is memory, repurposed.