The Most Photographed Wall in the World¹

1 This title refers to an episode in Don DeLillo's novel White Noise that is discussed in the article, during which the main character of the novel visits a tourist site called “THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA”. The point of using this title is obviously not to make a claim that the West Bank Wall is the most photographed wall in the world. Instead it is to reference the discussion in the novel of the role of photography within the construction of the barn as a touristic icon.

Abstract

The article addresses the photographic representation of the West Bank Wall, arguing that myriad photographs of the Wall produced for different purposes have established it as an international icon of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict/occupation. This establishment of the Wall as an icon is understood to be partly dependent upon its construction as an auratic object through photographs that emphasize its sheer materiality. Although such photographs are representations that ascribe meaning to the Wall, they seem to present its materiality — its wall-ness — as if it can “speak for itself”. In contrast to this implication that photographs can embody the materiality of the Wall, the article also considers its enmeshment with certain discourses that attempt to ground its meaning in use-values for the Israeli state, discourses that include acts performed to be photographed. Finally the article considers the effects upon understandings of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict/occupation produced by the construction and use of the Wall as a photographic icon.

Notes

1 This title refers to an episode in Don DeLillo's novel White Noise that is discussed in the article, during which the main character of the novel visits a tourist site called “THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA”. The point of using this title is obviously not to make a claim that the West Bank Wall is the most photographed wall in the world. Instead it is to reference the discussion in the novel of the role of photography within the construction of the barn as a touristic icon.

2 Information about the tours was gained from an “Alternative Tours” leaflet picked up at the Jerusalem Hotel in 2008.

3 http://www.alternativetours.ps/abuhassan%20final1_files/page346.htm (accessed 10 Apr. 2011).

4 http://www.alternativetours.ps/abuhassan%20final1_files/page266.htm (accessed 10 Apr. 2011).

5 http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheffieldpsc/sets/72157608940251665/ (accessed 10 Apr. 2011).

6 http://www.seamzone.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/default.htm (accessed 17 Apr. 2011).

7 This was also discussed in a conversation between the author and W.J.T. Mitchell, Tel Aviv, 14 Mar. 2008.

8 “Israeli clothing chain holds fashion shoot at West Bank separation barrier”: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-03-03-models-barrier_x.htm (accessed 17 Apr. 2011).

9 http://www.comme-il-faut.com/agenda/archive/catalogs/frontiers (accessed 10 Apr. 2011).

10 The text and images from this exhibition are included in Ophir et al.

11 Conversation between Gaston Zvi Ickowicz and Simon Faulkner, Tel Aviv, 28 Aug. 2011.