Munir
2001–2003

Munir is part of a larger work, Where We Come From, which comprises thirty pairings of photographs and texts as well as a video. Together, they record Emily Jacir’s efforts to realize the personal requests of Palestinians living around the world. Many of the participants in the project were prohibited either from returning to their homeland or from leaving their homes and moving freely throughout their country, the region, and beyond. Jacir posed the same question to these individuals: “If I could do anything for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?” Each photograph and text (which appears in both Arabic and English) documents a single person’s response to the question, as well as Jacir’s efforts to satisfy the request. Using her American passport to move across borders demarcating the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Israel, Jacir fulfilled desires ranging from the practical (bringing clothes and gifts to family members) to the whimsical (water a tree in a village). Munir—a man who lived in Bethlehem but was denied access to nearby Jerusalem by Israeli authorities—requested: “Go to my mother’s grave in Jerusalem on her birthday and put flowers and pray.”