This piece was made in response to time I spent volunteering with The International Solidarity Movement in the Palestinian village of Bil’in in 2007. The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of nonviolent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 

As a tool for resuscitation against the suffocating effects of tear gas, I observed people holding onions to their face as the IDF clashed with protesters.

This piece recalls my experience being repeatedly hit with Israeli Tear Gas in the Palestinian village of Bil’in.  Local villagers would cut onions in half and hold them up to their faces. The vapors coming from the onion would cut through the suffocating effects of the tear gas. I believed the onion to not only be a radical tool of resistance but also an object of layered and tearful poetry. 

There is a sound component originally shown with this piece of audio I recorded on June 12th, 2007 of the Palestinian Village of Bil’in being gassed by the Israeli Occupation Forces.