This project addresses the ongoing ecocide in Palestine and Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands of centuries old olive trees are being deliberately burned and uprooted. The olive tree, a symbol of peace, sustenance, and continuity, has become a target of environmental and cultural erasure. Through material-based photographic image-making, this work positions the olive tree not only as subject, but as witness and agent.

The piece consists of seven suspended panels of sheer cotton fabric of varying dimensions, each printed using the cyanotype process and UV light. The images depict olive trees from my family’s garden in Lebanon and were photographed by my family members, printed as negatives, and transferred onto the fabric. Together, the panels form a deconstructed olive tree, suspended at different heights.

The upper panels, are dyed using burnt olive wood, burnt olive leaf ash, and iron sulphate, producing a dark brown tone that references the burning of olive trees above ground. The middle panels are dyed with dried olive leaves and dried olive wood, representing a transitional stage of destruction. The final and longest panel, spanning seven meters, the approximate depth of a mature olive tree’s roots, features a full image of the tree and is dyed using fresh olive leaves, symbolizing endurance, regeneration, and the strength of the living root system.

Through material transformation and scale, the work emphasizes the strength of roots, connection to land, and continuity despite destruction. Framed through the theme of critical refusal, the project asserts a refusal to relinquish land, memory, and life, allowing the olive tree to testify to both violence and resilience through its own matter.