About the Author

Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, Steve Sabella is an award-winning artist, a writer based in Berlin using photography and photographic installation as his primary modes of expression. Sabella holds an MA in photographic studies from the University of Westminster and an MA in Art Business from Sotheby'sSotheby's Institute of Art, London. Sabella received the Ellen Auerbach Award from the Akademie der Kunste Berlin, leading to a major published study covering twenty years of his art published by Hatje Cantz. His award-winning memoir The Parachute Paradox, published in hardcopy by Kerber Verlag in 2016, received international recognition winning two awards for best memoir. Sabella'sSabella's life and art have been subject to several documentaries, and his art has been exhibited internationally and is held in private and public collections, including those of the British Museum in London, The Arab World Institute museum in Paris, and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha. Sabella has been the subject of several documentaries, including In the Darkroom with Steve Sabella (2014), screened internationally. In 2017, Sabella was the AFAC grant recipient for his new photo project Palestine-UNSETTLED. Through his art and writing, Sabella works beyond narratives of exile, transcending culture and nationality, and advocating for global citizenship. Sabella'sSabella's solo exhibitions include a major retrospective at the International Center for Photography Scavi Scaligeri, Verona, (2014)-with a book with the same title published by Maretti Editore, Archaeology of the Future. www.stevesabella.studio

Reviews

"The Parachute Paradox offers narrative storytelling of the life of the Jerusalemite artist and his experiences under Israeli Occupation. It proposes a subject that is unprecedented in Palestinian literature: the liberation of the self and the homeland through the liberation of the imagination."Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, London
The number of books about Israel and Palestine published every year can feel oppressive to the average reader. On rare occasions, an original narrative of the conflict, imbued with honesty and sensitivity, is published. Joseph Dana, The National, UAE

Perhaps the fact that the author is an accomplished artist and photographer explains the volume's elegant appearance. We later discover a young man whose freedom does not exist except as an expression of his art and as an endless love for the girl of his dreams. Eric Hoffer Award winner announcement on The US Review of Books

The Parachute Paradox is perhaps the most impressive book I have ever read on the Palestinian-Jewish conflict. A good book to read and to go through gently, piece by piece. Moors Magazine, The Netherlands

Thrilling, challenging, inspiring, thoughtful. The Parachute Paradox is part romance, part thriller, part political analysis. It is thoroughly redemptive and frustrating at the same time. It embraces the reality of a journey of identity and a path to internal peace. Any interested party in the Arab-Israeli conflict must read this firsthand account. In it, Steve tracks all the harmful pitfalls of stereotypes and gives the reader a taste of the kind of spiritual vision necessary to take us beyond the boxes that entrap us. Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, New York

A thought-provoking, compelling and beautifully crafted memoir. From the brilliant metaphor in the title to the last page, this book is an inspirational work of art. Joanna Barakat, Palestinian artist

Sabella writes not only as a novelist but also as a choreographer, dancing with words and images. He infuses this captivating book with exceptional cinematographic energy, artistry, and uniqueness in conveying the scene. In short, these are cinematographic pages par excellence. Nicoles Youness, Professor of History of Art

A must-read for the Palestinian perspective. Thankfully, this memoir is a journey that ends with an epiphany. Rod Such, The Palestine Chronicle

The Parachute Paradox is therefore also a book about the transformation of the self, about freedom, about liberating the image of Jerusalem from her ideological confinement, about the power of love, and about the artistic imagination breaking free."Dr. Almut Bruckstein, Berlin

"The Parachute Paradox, a new memoirs from Palestine from Palestinian author Steve Sabella, provides a unique insight into the individual pursuit of global citizenship through the author's life story." The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU)