A visual dialogue across childhood and war.
by Mahmoud Abu Qaraya and tylerdurdan*

This project supports the family of Mahmoud Abu Qaraya in Gaza
If you wish, you can make a donation to help them.
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Context
Between Gaza and Naples is a photography project exploring parallel everyday life in Palestine and Italy through visual storytelling and installation.
Developed in collaboration with Mahmoud Abu Qaraya, a young phographer living in Gaza that now is my brother.
The project unfolds through parallel lives, where distance does not separate but reveals structure.
Statement
This is not a comparison.
It is a recognition.
One day, Soso and Dede will meet.
Visual sequence:











Exhibitions timeline
A project conceived to exist across spaces: Between Gaza and Naples unfolds as a visual dialogue that can be translated into different formats, from physical installations to digital environments.
Selected Spaces

Public debut — Ex Opg Occupato Festival, Naples
September 17–20, 2025
The first public presentation of Between Gaza and Naples took place at Ex Opg Occupato Festival in Naples, marking the beginning of the project’s exhibition path. Conceived as a visual dialogue between two childhoods, the work entered a shared public space where photography became testimony, relation and collective reflection.
Exhibition — Reclaim the Beat, Lido La Pola, Naples
September 26, 2025
Presented as part of Reclaim the Beat, Between Gaza and Naples. A Childhood Story unfolded as an urgent photographic intervention within a public and cultural context. Through parallel images, the work brings into dialogue two distant cities and two childhoods, revealing the fragility of everyday life under siege while affirming its resilience.
Screening — JSJC Media Conclave 7.0, Jindal School of Journalism & Communication, India
September 26–28, 2025
Shown at JSJC Media Conclave 7.0, Between Gaza and Naples moved into an international academic context, where the project was engaged as a visual and cultural inquiry. Through its parallel structure, the work opened a space for reflection on representation, conflict and the role of images in shaping collective understanding.
Exhibition — Kestè, Naples
October 22, 2025
At Kestè, Between Gaza and Naples re-entered the city as both subject and audience. In a close and informal setting, the project activated a direct encounter between images and viewers, where the distance between Gaza and Naples is momentarily suspended and reconfigured through shared attention.
Exhibition — South Market, Naples
November 2, 2025
At South Market, Between Gaza and Naples entered a dense and open public space. Surrounded by a large and continuous flow of visitors, the project shifted from intimate viewing to collective experience, where the images became part of a broader social landscape, amplifying their resonance and immediacy.
Exhibition — Dimora del Prete, Venafro
November 23, 2025
At Dimora del Prete, Between Gaza and Naples took shape as a space of encounter and responsibility. Beyond the exhibition, the project activated a collective moment through screening, participation and support, where images moved from representation to action, positioning culture as a form of resistance.
Exhibition — Bayna Festival, Naples, Italy
November 28–29, 2025
At Bayna Festival, Between Gaza and Naples entered a curated and collective framework, where the work was experienced alongside other cultural narratives. The festival context amplified its reach, allowing the project to resonate within a broader public discourse while reinforcing its role as a visual inquiry into childhood and conflict.
Screening & Talk — Scomodo Editorial Office, Milan, Italy
December 3, 2025
Presented for the first time in Milan within the editorial space of Scomodo, Between Gaza and Naples entered a context deeply rooted in independent journalism, collective participation and critical cultural production. Founded in Rome in 2016 by students and young activists, Scomodo has grown into one of Italy’s most significant independent editorial communities, creating spaces for political discussion, grassroots culture and social engagement across multiple cities. Built around the idea of accessible and participatory journalism, the project has become a reference point for a new generation seeking alternative forms of information and collective awareness. Inside this environment, Between Gaza and Naples shifted from exhibition into dialogue. The project was explored through conversation and reflection, positioning the images within a broader discussion on media representation, testimony and the political responsibility of visual language. In this setting, the work became part of an ongoing collective inquiry into how images shape public consciousness, memory and solidarity across different geographies.
Exhibition — Santafeira Fest, Naples, Italy
December 5–7, 2025
At L‘ Asilo during Santafeira Fest, Between Gaza and Naples entered one of Naples’ most historically significant spaces for independent art, civic participation and solidarity with the Palestinian people. Located in the historic center of the city, L’Asilo has become a symbol of culture returned to the public: a self-managed space where artistic production, political dialogue and collective access to culture coexist outside institutional frameworks. Presenting the project there placed the work inside a living environment shaped by community practices, resistance and international solidarity. Within this open and collective context, the project unfolded through continuous interaction with the audience, allowing the images to circulate not only as documentation but as part of an active social and cultural exchange. The presentation reinforced Between Gaza and Naples as an evolving narrative capable of moving across different contexts while maintaining a coherent focus on memory, resistance and human connection.
Exhibition — Lazzarelle Bistrot, Naples, Italy
December 8, 2025
At Lazzarelle Bistrot, in collaboration with Cleanap, Between Gaza and Naples entered an intimate and deeply symbolic space shaped by social resistance, memory and collective care. Hosted inside the gallery connected to Lazzarelle, the project unfolded within a context carrying a strong human and political history. Lazzarelle was founded by women who experienced incarceration and transformed that experience into a path of emancipation, work and social reintegration through coffee production and community-building practices. Their story has become a symbol in Naples of dignity reclaimed through solidarity and mutual support. Within this environment, the project moved away from large public formats and found a slower, more relational rhythm. The images could be observed and absorbed through proximity, conversation and shared presence, allowing the work to resonate inside a space where personal histories, resistance and collective humanity already coexist.
Exhibition & Talk — Ex Opg Occupato, Naples, Italy
December 27, 2025
At Ex OPG Occupato, Between Gaza and Naples was presented within a historic space of political resistance, mutual aid and long-standing solidarity with the Palestinian people. Known in Naples as a symbol of grassroots activism and collective self-organization, Ex OPG provided a context where the project could exist not only as an exhibition, but as part of a wider political and human dialogue. The screening took place within a program dedicated to ecocide and colonial violence in southern Lebanon, connecting the photographic work to broader discussions around occupation, memory and territorial struggle. Inside this environment, the images were activated collectively rather than passively consumed, becoming part of a living space shaped by testimony, debate and social engagement. The presentation reinforced Between Gaza and Naples as both a visual and political practice, rooted in solidarity, historical consciousness and transnational resistance.
Screening — Can Batlló, Barcelona, Spain
January 29, 2026
At Can Batlló in Barcelona, Between Gaza and Naples entered Europe for the first time within a deeply symbolic and historically charged space. Originally an industrial textile complex from the nineteenth century, Can Batlló has become one of Barcelona’s most significant self-managed cultural and social centers — a place shaped by collective memory, grassroots activism and independent artistic production. Presenting the project there situated the work inside a broader European discourse on resistance, community and cultural autonomy. The screening transformed the photographic material into a collective and time-based experience, allowing the images to unfold through rhythm, silence and sequence. In this context, the project resonated beyond its original geography, connecting Gaza and Naples to a wider international landscape marked by political reflection, social participation and transnational solidarity.
Screening — Tras. Lab, Naples, Italy
March 14, 2026
At artistic space Tras. Lab, Between Gaza and Naples re-entered Naples hosted by the artist Emanuela Auricchio aka Cassandra Parla, following its international trajectory, engaging with a context oriented towards research and cultural production. The project was presented as a time-based experience, where images unfolded through sequence and rhythm, allowing for a renewed and more conscious reading of the work.
Exhibition — Hurriya OFF Feria, l’Asilo, Naples, Italy
April,30,2026
At Hurriya OFF Feira by Santafeira in Naples, Between Gaza and Naples was presented within a collective space dedicated to Palestinian culture, independent artistic practices and visual storytelling. Hosted inside L’’Asilo, the project entered a context shaped by comics, music, talks and grassroots cultural production, where the dialogue between image, memory and resistance became central to the experience. The screening expanded the project’s trajectory through a public encounter focused on the relationship between documentary language, human testimony and contemporary visual culture, opening a space for reflection on displacement, identity and solidarity across different geographies.
Press

Selected articles and media coverage featuring the project and its development across visual research, photography and cultural context. Press is not treated as validation, but as part of the work’s circulation. Each publication extends the project into a wider public context, where images become part of a broader cultural and political conversation.
la Repubblica – 2026
“Soso e Dede: vite parallele tra Napoli e Gaza negli scatti di una mostra fotografica” — 2026
Elle Italia – 2025
“Storie di bambine, infanzia da difendere e resistenza culturale, tra Gaza e Napoli”— 2026
Witness Journal – 2025
“Cosa significa restare umani in un luogo che brucia?”— 2025
Social Documentary Nework – 2025
“Between Naples and Gaza. A Childhood Story”— 2025
Pressenza – 2026
“L’infanzia sotto assedio, l’infanzia protetta: un ponte fotografico tra Gaza e Napoli“— 2026
EuReports – 2025
“Between Gaza and Naples”: A call for children’s rights”
Can Batllò – 2025
“Projecció “Between Gaza and Naples”” — 2025
Photo Journalism Hub – 2025
“Between Naples and Gaza. A Childhood Story Two distant cities, one childhood to defend” — 2025
Infopal – 2025
“Reportage: Between Gaza and Naples” — 2025
Collater.al Magazine – 2025
“The Story of Two Girls Between Gaza and Naples” — 2025
Escape Vision – 2025
“Fra Napoli e Gaza, storie di bambini — 2025
Informareonline – 2026
“Una proiezione per supportare la Palestina“
The Documentary
“Between Gaza and Naples – A Childhood Story” traces the parallel lives of two young girls: Soso, growing up under siege in Gaza, and Dede, living her childhood in Naples.
Their everyday gestures, mirrored across borders, reveal a world fractured by war and privilege.
What began as one of the last photographic reportages to emerge from Gaza has evolved into an ongoing documentary — a visual dialogue between intimacy and resistance.
Shot between Southern Italy and Gaza, the project captures fragile moments of resilience amidst violence, exploring how childhood endures, or splinters, under radically different realities.
Currently presented as a 4-minute trailer, the film is a work in progress, developed under extraordinary circumstances as co-author Mahmoud Abu Al-Qaraya and his family flee south through Gaza and tylerdurdan*.
A parallel narrative
This work extends beyond photography.
Some of these stories continue in another form.
“Abbastanza”, a track from the album Secondo, intersects with this project through images filmed in Gaza by Mahmoud Abu Qaraya.
The footage was not staged.
It was recorded months after the song was written, documenting the displacement of a family forced to move south during the ongoing conflict.
What connects them is not direction, but coincidence.
Words written before the images existed later encountered real events already unfolding.
→ Watch the video
→ Explore Secondo
Abbastanza — Official Video
Filmed in Gaza by Mahmoud Abu Qaraya.
Music & lyrics by Raffaele Annunziata (tylerdurdan*).
This is not a separate work.
“Abbastanza” belongs to the same narrative.
The song was written in February.
The images were filmed months later in Gaza.
This video is not archival footage.
These images come directly from Gaza.
No staging.
No reconstruction.
Just a moment where language and reality met.
Authors
Mahmoud Abu Qaraya and Raffaele Annunziata aka tylerdurdan*
Mahmoud Abu Qaraya
Mahmoud Abu Qaraya is a young Palestinian photographer and documentarian, born and raised in Gaza.
Through his images, he tells the story of Palestinian daily life, capturing moments of resilience and beauty even in the most difficult times.


Raffaele Annunziata
Raffaele Annunziata is an Italian creative director and artist known as tylerdurdan* developing experimental music projects exploring artificial intelligence, rap and digital culture.
This project supports the family of Mahmoud Abu Qaraya in Gaza
If you wish, you can make a donation to help them.
Get in touch
For exhibitions, collaborations and editorial opportunities.