Child in Battir
Photo exhibition Faces of the Mediterranean
Child in Battir
Today, Battir is the heart of the so-called "Green Intifada," a form of nonviolent resistance based on protecting the area's environment and historical heritage. Its inhabitants have been fighting a silent and stubborn battle for years without weapons, stones or demonstrations but wielding topographical maps, surveying instruments, shovels and picks. Battir is in fact located close to the 1948 UN-established Green Line border. For nearly two decades, it has lived under the constant threat that the wall built by Israel in the West Bank could reach here, depriving the inhabitants of their land and irreparably damaging the ancient irrigation system.
The obstinacy of the inhabitants of this small farming village was rewarded in the summer of 2014, when recognition finally arrived from the UN agency for education and culture. UNESCO pronounced itself "with urgency" as it realized that the terraced valleys were at risk of irreversible damage and understood that that landscape had become vulnerable under the impact of socio-cultural and geopolitical transformations.
Alessandro Bartolini
Born in Poppi, Arezzo, in 1966, he is a civil engineer by profession and a photographer by passion. In 2005 he organized his debut photography exhibition focused on the reality of Palestinian citizens. A traveler and engineer, Alessandro has creatively combined his technical training with his passion for photography.
