(SINGLE) WOMEN

My work tells the story of 7000 Palestinian prisoners through the eyes of their mothers, wives and daughters â?? awaiting their return from the Israeli prisons â?? and through the eyes of former prisoners returning to freedom. All of these women must struggle to support their families both economically and emotionally, often finding themselves with many children to raise. Due to the strict red tape of the Israeli prison service, they must face endless and humiliating routes to visit their sons, daughters and husbands in the local prisons. From here the heading of my photo session â??(SINGLE) WOMENâ?? : to give an account through my photos of how the lives of these women are suspended and they are lying in wait of their menâ??s return. And this will never happen until they remain single women. The report takes place in the prisonerâ??s homes : in the bedrooms where they would rest, in the living rooms where they would receive guests for tea or coffee, in the kitchens where their women would cook their meals. And these women are the picture of their life outside the prisons and the only emotional tie between them and the life they have left behind. These women burden themselves heavily as only their presence of mind and actions can keep their family together and hold the hope of a new family gathering. Despite still being in love with their men and still giving proof of it, this wholehearted attachment to their men is also these womenâ??s chance to join the Palestinian resistance.

Antonio Faccilongo is an Italian documentary photographer based in Rome. After graduating in communication sciences, and then obtaining a masters in photojournalism, he focused his attention on Asia and the Middle East, principally in Israel and Palestine, covering social, political and cultural issues. Documenting the aftermath of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in West Bank and Gaza Strip, he sought to unveil and highlight the humanitarian issues hidden within one of the world’s most reported conflicts, because too often it is shown only as a place of war and conflict.