Bringing Soil, Breaking Bread: Archival Praxis in Visual Storytelling of Palestine in Exile

This article examines themes of archival praxis, visual storytelling, and care through an analysis of two Palestinian short films. Drawing on Edward Said’s concept of the contrapuntal, the authors argue that visual storytelling in Something from There by Rana Nazzal Hamadeh and Brown Bread & Apricots by Serene Husni establishes an archival praxis that utilizes narratives and objects, functioning as a portal connecting temporalities and geographical spaces between Palestine and exile. The authors explore the archival landscape that forms the fabric of Palestinian life in the two films—stories, soil, al-muneh (the pantry), photographs, and documents—arguing that the films speak to the gendered dimensions of archival care, wherein Palestinian women emerge as custodians of memory and storykeeping. By applying strategies of abundance and relationality, the authors posit that the filmmakers foreground family histories, contributing to a deeper understanding of an embodied archive.