The Samira Munayer Archive

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Following the passing of Guez’s grandmother, Samira Munayer (1930–2025), the archive formerly known as the Christian Palestinian Archive (CPA) was renamed the Samira Munayer Archive in her memory and in recognition of her central role in preserving the family’s photographic and documentary heritage.

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The Samira Munayer Archive originates from Guez’s family archive (al Munayer), first assembled in a church basement in Lydda that functioned as a shared space of refuge and preservation for members of the local Palestinian community. From this initial body of family photographs and documents, the archive has developed into an evolving visual collection of photographs and materials from the first half of the twentieth century, tracing the personal histories of Palestinian families and their dispersion across the Mediterranean region and beyond. While the archive emerged from a specific familial and local history, its scope extends across Palestinian communities beyond singular religious, geographic, or social categories.

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Many of the earliest photographs preserved in the archive survived periods of rupture, displacement, and restricted mobility in Lydda under Israeli military rule, a condition described in administrative and military documents as “Ghetto Lod.” The archive began in 2006 in Guez’s studio, originating from family photographs and documents found in shoe boxes stored beneath the artist’s grandparents’ bed.

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In its early formation, materials circulated through shared spaces of refuge, including church basements that served the local Palestinian community across different religious backgrounds as sites of temporary protection and safekeeping. Through processes of preservation, scanning, digitization, and cataloguing, additional materials were gradually contributed by families from Lydda and its surroundings, as well as from Jaffa, Jerusalem, Gaza, Amman, and other locations. The archive expanded into a collective repository grounded in networks of personal and familial memory rather than institutional frameworks or singular identity structures.

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The archive is an ongoing initiative built through intergenerational acts of preservation. It includes intimate family events for which photographers were specifically invited, such as engagements, weddings, holidays, and public celebrations, alongside postcards, studio portraits, passport photographs, maps, handwritten notes, and other vernacular materials. Extending beyond professional photography, the archive encompasses everyday image-making practices and the social histories embedded within them.

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The project approaches the historical photograph through both its visual content and its material and technological conditions of production and circulation. Attention is given not only to the image itself but also to the photograph as an object—its surface, texture, traces of time, and modes of reproduction and digitization. Through this lens, the archive considers how images move across generations, how technologies of preservation shape historical memory, and how personal archives may function as alternative historical narratives.

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Samira Munayer Scholarship Program

Named in honor of Samira Munayer, the Samira Munayer Scholarship Program supports Palestinian female students pursuing studies in art and related fields. Samira studied at the Christian School for Girls in Jaffa during the 1930s, in the very building where her grandson, Dor Guez, now lives and works. Established to commemorate her lifelong belief in the value of education, the scholarship advocates for greater access to higher education for Palestinian women and supports future generations of artists, researchers, and cultural practitioners.

Together, the archive and scholarship program extend Samira Munayer’s legacy of preservation, education, and cultural continuity, ensuring that personal histories and community memories remain accessible to future generations.