Gomma Photography Grant 2016
Habibi
Photographer
Antonio Faccilongo
Habibi
14 Oct, 2022
"Habibi" is the story of Palestinian prisoners’ wives who have turned to sperm smuggling in order to conceive children through in vitro fertilization (IVF) from their husbands who are serving long-term sentences. In the past 3 years, when these women started to do it, 60 babies have been born. There are around 7,000 Palestinians, classified as security prisoners, facing sentences of 25 years or more. Conjugal visits are denied, Palestinian prisoners see their immediate family for just 45 minutes every two weeks, if at all. While kept physically separated from visiting spouses and adults, inmates can play with their children for ten minutes at the end of each session. During these short visitations, some of the men have smuggled sperm to their wives. Fertility clinics in the occupied territories increasingly offer IVF treatment to prisoners' wives free of charge. The Razan fertility clinic in Nablus and the al Basma fertility clinic in Gaza have frozen numerous sperm samples recently smuggled from behind bars. Women in the “Ivf†program believe that one day the prisoners will be released, and when they do return home, they should have a family waiting for them. Combined with what there is a cultural belief that wives are not able to cope with everyday life alone, this notion encourages them to take such measures to become pregnant. Furthermore they felt that becoming pregnant while her husband was imprisoned would help continue the Palestinian resistance.
About the photographer
Antonio Faccilongo
Antonio Faccilongo is an Italian documentary photographer, filmmaker and photography professor. He is Fujifilm X-Photographer ambassador and represented by Getty Reportage.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. His long-term projects about women and their families in Palestine have received several awards and grants including World Press Photo story of the year, 1st prize in long-term projects category at World Press Photo, FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo, Getty editorial grant and 1st prize World Understanding Award at POYi Pictures of the year International. Other awards and honors have included being recognized by PhMuseum, Gomma Grant, LuganoPhotoDays, Umbria World Fest, Kuala Lumpur Photo Awards, PDN Photo Annual Awards, Feature Shoot and was finalist at Visa D'or and Lucas Dolega and shortlisted 2 times at Alexia Foundation.Furthermore his long-term projects have been exhibited internationally at numerous shows and festivals including 2 times at World Press Photo Festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Zoom Festival, Festival della fotografia etica, Exposure Photography Festival, Buenos Aires Biennial, screened at Visa pour l'image Perpignan and was included on global campaign #WomenMatter against the violence toward women made by Dysturb.His work and assignments have been published in some of the most prominent international publications including National Geographic, Time, Stern, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, Geo, The Guardian, 6Mois, Paris Match, Focus, Sette, L'Espresso, Internazionale and many others.
