This photograph was taken in the Tamalia area of Gaza city, an old quarter that flourished under Ottoman rule, around the time of Suleiman the Magnificent. The walls in the background are the ruins of a once splendid building in an architectural style indicating it probably dates back to the 16th century, some 500 years ago. The historic structure appeared to have been bombed, but what most struck me were the squalid heaps of rubbish piling up against the walls of the gutted building. Empty Coca-Cola bottles scattered amongst the debris reminded me of spent shells or bomb casings. I felt like a forensic investigator photographing evidence at a crime scene trying to establish what had really happened.

The Municipality of Gaza has no money to fix anything and doesn’t even attempt to stem the tide. So the dwindling number of historic houses from previous periods disappear one after another because of wilful destruction and neglect. The Israelis accept no responsibility as occupiers to take care either of the people or the place, allowing things to deteriorate. The volatile mixture of ongoing conflicts, rising population pressures and local mismanagement all combine to erase the cultural history of Gaza. It is replaced by urban high-rise developments to house the swelling population of the Gaza enclave. Hamas, the party in power since 2007, recently sent in bulldozers to flatten an historic Bronze-age settlement so the site could be cleared for a new housing project.

The second Walls of Gaza series were reactions to the Oslo Agreement of 1993, in which instead of the promised Palestinian State, the accords provided for “economic cooperation and collaboration” between the two sides. Palestinians received some financial assistance that was sweetened by an influx of American consumer goods. I was using the idea of Coke as an icon to represent not just the American way, but as symbolising a form of economic dominance by market control. If long established local cultures are extinguished in the process, so be it – “that’s progress!”

An interesting backstory arose as I was preparing to print this work. When I insisted that I wanted to use Coca-Cola branding, the printing firm refused because of copyright concerns. They were very afraid of Coca-Cola’s litigious reputation. I maintained that nothing had happened to Andy Warhol, but that didn’t convince them! Eventually, I got away with using Pepsi Max! As far as I was concerned, the existence of two rival vendors of caffeinated sugar water vying for market dominance in the middle east only strengthened my point. I thought that marrying the jingle of one brand to the livery of the other demonstrated admirable even-handedness on my part.

© October Gallery, London, 2021.