Her portraits and social landscapes form an important historical record of life in Palestine in the early 1920s and 1930s. Born in Bethlehem in 1893, Karimeh Abbud was the first woman professional photographer, but she was also among the first in the region to set aside European style traditions in portrait art and photography. It is thanks to the work of this pioneering woman photographer that faces of the Palestinians before the catastrophe of 1948 still exist, showing their kindness, simplicity and tranquility.
