Samar Hazboun

Samar Hazboun is a visual artist who travels into the depths of her soul to explore the human condition through photography. She seeks to shine a spotlight on marginalized communities and individuals in the Middle East. Her series Errant Doves is a project exploring the emotional state of queer Palestinians following the COVID-19 pandemic in Palestine. Hazboun originally shied away from creating a series about Palestine’s LGBTQ+ community because she did not want it to fall under the “exotic category.” When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Palestine, Hazboun saw her queer friends’ lives change as they were forced to move back in with their homophobic parents, or escaped their deaths thanks to the lockdown measures and police distraction. Months later, a political upheaval hit Palestine shedding light on how the rights of the LGBTQ+ community reveals a complex and multilayered reality. 

Hazboun’s work has been published by The New York Times,Le Monde, and The Guardian among others. She was awarded the Khalil Al-Sakakini award for her series Hush and won the Self-Portrait category in the 11th Pollux Awards. Hazboun has received grants from the Magnum Foundation, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, The Washington Post, and the Prince Claus Fund.