A Palestinian health worker pictured on stage at the concert. “For me, this was the most powerful moment of the night,” says Misan Harriman, “recognising the extraordinary contribution of health workers during this genocide.”
On 17 September under the bright lights of Wembley in London, twelve thousand people attended Together for Palestine, in an evening that saw appearances from Damon Albarn, PinkPantheress, Saint Levant as well as Riz Ahmed, Benedict Cumberbatch and Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
A month on and after Monday’s hostage and prisoner release, the Nerve caught up with some of those involved with the concert, including our contributing editor, Misan Harriman, whose images from the night are exclusively published here.
For Harriman, an artist and long-time documentarian of protest and resilience, the evening’s spirit continues to resonate.
“Nina Simone said to be a true artist, is to reflect the times we live in,” he says, “and it was a very, very, very, very special evening to see artists do the job.”
“The evening was not about entertainers, it was about artists that were using the agency they have, as poets, as singers, as dancers, as songwriters, as organizers, as producers, to make sure that the world never ever looks away from one of the most heinous acts that really reflects the folly of man in totality, which is this genocide on the people of Palestine.”
Harriman is known for his powerful images of London’s Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and for portraits of high-profile figures including the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as well as Rihanna and Tom Cruise. In September 2020, he became the first Black man to shoot the front cover for British Vogue. Today his audience of over four hundred thousand on Instagram engages with his feed where activism meets artistry.
“I'm a child of Empire,” he says, “I was born in Nigeria, a place that was occupied by the British a generation before mine. I speak how I feel, and my images are a reflection of me trying to mirror the human condition, and I think that's what I am. Many people don't know quite what to say I am, and I'm just saying I'm an artist that tries to find truth in our common story.”
Harriman’s exhibition, The Purpose of Light, runs until the end of October at the Hope 93 gallery in central London and charts his documentation of recent global protests.
“It’s seven years of my civil rights work, observing protests across three continents, and really trying to show the through line of what it means to resist, what it means to build community, to honour the matriarchy. There's a whole wall with images of people like Francesca Albanese and many other women - because women since the suffragettes, have been the central pillar of just about every civil rights movement that I've ever either read about or photographed.”
For Harriman, being part of Together for Palestine was merely a continuation of this thread of resistance that runs throughout his work; but he has had to fight to create a space to be heard. “Luckily, my profile just keeps sort of growing independently from the press but it's amazing how [the media] love to talk to me about anything with celebrities but anything linked to my work with Save the Children or Choose Love or especially in regards to Palestine – there’s no interest.”
”Paloma Faith [pictured] is kind and funny, but most importantly she has an unbreakable sense of moral clarity,” says Harriman.
Speaking on the newly announced ceasefire in Gaza, Harriman quoted a line from the Prince song, Baltimore: “Peace is more than the absence of war.”
Harriman’s photos from that night evoke a mixture of hope, grief and solidarity and are a testament to the event’s collective spirit; as well as illustrative of the pulse of a country where polls show growing public sympathy for Palestine. To date, over two million pounds has been raised from the evening, with proceeds going to Palestinian-led organisations working on the frontline in Gaza, delivering life-saving aid and medical care.
Musician and record producer Brian Eno said recently that it had all come together thanks to the hard work of so many of the artists and volunteers, “if it had been Brian Eno's show, it would never have happened,” he quipped.
“The response was very moving, lots of my friends and family from Palestine wrote to say how moved they were,” said Amir Nizar Zuabi, an award-winning theatre director and Together for Palestine’s creative director. “Sometimes, as Palestinians, we feel the world is watching and we feel we fell out of time and space as the world grows indifferent to the mass technological murder we are experiencing. However, Together for Palestine was an opportunity to tell a different story – a story of culture, resilience and dignity; a story that celebrates who we are beyond the genocide, even as we bow our heads in grief.”
Zuabi says he is already thinking about what comes next. “We hope we can create another [event] soon as Palestine needs all the help it can. Palestine needs helping both in humanitarian relief right now but also for years to come to rehabilitate life, dignity, and freedom. To heal the trauma and hold the people that violated international law accountable.”
The resonance has carried on for those involved, speaking to a growing network of artists, activists and creatives working together as a form of resistance. “Until Palestine is free, and its people are safe, we will keep trying to challenge the complicity,” says Zuabi, “to celebrate the brave truth sayers and build and widen a community that values life and dignity and opposes supremacy and double standards.”
Misan Harriman: The Purpose of Light continues at Hope 93 gallery, 54 Eastcastle Street, London W1W 8EF until 30 October
Words by Katy Fallon
Health workers on stage.
”There was something so different about this audience,” says Harriman, “the righteous few who refused to look away.”
The “always kind and wise”, actor and activist Khalid Abdalla.
”Two national treasures!” British-Palestinian plastic surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah and Dr Victoria Rose aka @rosieplasticsurgeon.
“Tracey Seaward [film producer] having a hug with the one and only Stephen Kapos [Holocaust survivor and Palestinian activist].”
Journalists Medhi Hasan, Ahmed Shibab-Eldin and Ayman Mohieddine backstage.
Backstage at Together for Palestine.
Actor and activist Jameela Jamil backstage.
