#19 CAMERA Book Review: Benjamin Zephaniah & Jez Coulson - Rasta Time in Palestine

A quick look through Rasta Time in Palestine by Benjamin Zephaniah & Jez Coulson

Benjamin Zephaniah and photographer Jez Coulson collaborated on Rasta Time in Palestine following a journey through Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 1988 during the First Intifada. Published by Shakti Publishing in 1990, the book combines Zephaniah's travel writing, political reflections and poetry with Coulson's photographs to document the people, places and conditions they encountered. Written for readers unfamiliar with the region, the project records observations made in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, examining the realities of military occupation through direct experience rather than historical or political abstraction.

Rather than presenting a conventional documentary report, Rasta Time in Palestine brings together text and photography to create a personal record of travel through a landscape shaped by conflict, identity and contested histories. Coulson's photographs provide a visual counterpart to Zephaniah's first hand accounts, documenting everyday life alongside the political tensions of the period. Produced during the early years of the First Intifada, the book remains an important collaborative document that reflects how photography and writing can be combined to record lived experience within a politically contested environment.

Jez Coulson
Benjamin Zephaniah

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