Making Homeland Lost

This panel event brings together the main people who contributed to the realisation of the Homeland Lost documentary project.  The panel includes photographer Alan Gignoux; his photography assistant for the project, Alexander Atwater; Safwat Alkahlout, journalist and Alan’s fixer in the Gaza Strip; Saad Halawani, Alans contact at the British Council in East Jerusalem, who sponsored the project; and Master Printer Robin Bell, who created the foundations for the analogue film archive and printed Alan’s images for the exhibition.  The panel discussion will be moderated by Jenny Christensson, who curated the original exhibition and who is working with Alan on the current exhibition at P21 Gallery and his forthcoming photobook.  The event will explore the challenges of making a large-scale documentary photography project in a complex political environment.

SPEAKERS:

Alan Gignoux

Alan Gignoux is an award-winning documentary photographer and founder of Gignouxphotos, which produces documentary photography projects focussing on socio-political and environmental issues around the world. Gignoux specializes in long form documentary projects that explore an issue and its impact on communities over long periods of several years, combining photography, video, interviews, research, and writing in creative and innovative ways to create layered projects offering multiple perspectives https://gignouxphotos.com/

Alexander Atwater

Born in London in 1980, Alexander Atwater is a photographer with a passion for creating inspiring images that combine a photo-journalistic approach with a fine art style.

In recent years his photography has been with animals in society and exploring themes of interconnection to our fellow beings on Earth and how it impacts our planet's ecology and other pressing societal issues.

Safwat Alkahlout

Safwat Alkahlout is a Palestinian journalist with nearly 25 years of experience in international media. He worked for the Italian news agency ANSA and collaborated with several global outlets, including The New York Times, CBC News, ABC Australia, SVT Sweden and Channel 4 News.

He later spent 16 years as a news producer with Al Jazeera English, covering Gaza, the Middle East and major international developments. Born and raised in Gaza, Safwat is married and a father of seven. Because of the war, his family was forced to leave Gaza and relocate first to Italy, and later temporarily to Istanbul.

Saad Halawani

Currently completing a PhD (post-Viva) at Coventry University (2022–2026), Saad Halawani's academic work centers on developing a universal model of leadership during environmental crises based on the Palestinian context by understanding how leadership emerges and functions under conditions of ecological distress and conflict. His research interrogates the intersection of conflict theory, environmental justice, and political sovereignty, with a focus on how communities navigate ecological degradation under conditions of occupation and protracted crisis, especially in the Palestinian context and the wider MENA region. His academic work is grounded in an established work experience with local government units and communities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which helped guide his research. Saad was born and raised in the Jerusalem and has extensive experience in development work in society and education, with a focus on local governments, youth, women and girls, and marginalised communities.

Robin Bell

After a brief few years as an assistant to various London photographers in the 1970s, Robin Bell started specializing in darkroom printing, working for three or four darkrooms ( of which there were plenty) until finally setting up his own business in 1983 in Chelsea Wharf.

He never followed the digital market and has  remained stubbornly analogue to this day. He still thinks darkroom prints from negatives have a special quality which digital printing, by its nature, cannot match, having an unmatched depth and richness; not to mention proven archival properties over centuries. He is still "at it" and is passing on as much of his knowledge to his daughter, Lily, as he can.

Jenny Christensson

Jenny Christensson is a London-based independent curator, editor, and publishing project manager whose practice is research-led and socially engaged, with a particular focus on documentary photography, visual culture, and ethical representation. Her work frequently addresses themes of displacement, environmental degradation, human rights, and the politics of visibility, and often unfolds over long timeframes through exhibitions, publications, and collaborative methodologies.

She works closely with artists and photographers from the early research and conceptual stages of projects through to exhibition-making and publication https://www.christensson-art.com/