This video is a small representation of the visual and audial aspects of the "يلّا عالبلد" (Yalla 'al Balad) installation. Many Palestinians in the diaspora have never been, or are not allowed to go to Palestine. Because I have the privilege to go to some cities in my home country as I please, I decided to create "يلّا عالبلد" (Yalla 'al Balad). "يلّا عالبلد" (Yalla 'al Balad) was an installation that engaged the senses of sight, hearing, and smell to fully immerse the viewers and give them a glimpse into life in Palestine. All elements of this installation were collected during my trip throughout 5 cities in the West Bank, which were Halhul, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Nablus. The visual element of the installation was in the form of a photographic book, and in those photographs, I tried to capture the beautiful, the friendly, the happy and the unfortunately sad and lonely aspects of the lives of the Palestinian people in the West Bank. The photographs were made using a 35mm film camera and were presented raw and unedited. The audial element of the installation consisted of recorded sound bites of ambient sounds, music and conversations that I experienced throughout my journey. The olfactory element was a culmination of different ingredients that resembled the smell of freshly baked Ma'amoul, which is a traditional Arabic pastry filled with dates. That specific scent was used because of its relation to a home, and the nostalgic feeling it ensues in people from the Arab world. The installation was in a dimly lit dark room, where the only light source was on the book. Viewers entered one at a time, and were asked to wear the provided noise cancelling headphones that played the sound mix, and flip through the pages of the book at their own pace.
