Permit to See: The disposable camera project supporting Gaza through art

In a time where images are consumed instantly, a new project asks: What does it mean to wait? What does it mean to choose what gets seen, and what doesn’t? Permit to See, a new charity art initiative launched by artist-run collective Better Entry, invites six artists to document their world using disposable cameras, a medium chosen for its intimacy, imperfection, and sense of delay. Their photographs will remain undeveloped until the works are raffled online between May 9–16, leaving the choice to reveal or preserve the images in the hands of the winner.

Alongside them, Majdi Fathi, a Gaza-based photojournalist who has been documenting the conflict from within, contributes a series of digital prints that bring the harsh reality of life under siege into sharp focus. His images will be available for sale as part of the project, with all proceeds will be donated to several nonprofit organizations providing humanitarian aid, education, and healthcare to children impacted by the crisis in Gaza. “Permit to See is rooted in the idea that even the most fleeting moments can hold truth,” Better Entry explains. “When stories are erased, censored, or rewritten, these personal images become quiet forms of resistance.”

Each artist was given total creative freedom, resulting in a set of highly personal, often experimental contributions. Polina Osipova, a fine artist known for her sculptural masks and folkloric references, used the project to create what she describes as “journeys through time.” Her camera captures scenes inside her home studio — some built from scratch, layered with pearls and archival family photos. “I want to immerse the viewer in my own little world,” she says.

For Bobbi Menuez, a fashion editor and artist based in New York, the images serve as a quiet meditation on identity and archive. “Like the photos at an antique shop or on the personal blog of a child,” they explain, “I imagine something familiar to anyone being available. I can’t know what is indicated to others through each frame.”

Some artists used the project to reflect on the uncertainty of making art that may never be seen. “I didn’t know if I was doing it for one person or many,” says Osipova. “The fact that I put time and imagination into something that maybe no one will ever see — but that will help people in Palestine — is very inspiring to me.”

Fashion photographer Kris Tofjan contributed from a similar place of reflection. “I’ve never been interested in beauty in its conventional or superficial form,” he says. “I’m drawn to finding beauty in places where it’s often overlooked, in what’s usually considered ordinary or even unattractive.” In another moment of clarity, he adds: “Even if the work isn’t directly about Palestine, it still speaks to a shared human experience.”

That sense of connectedness lies at the heart of the project, a recognition that the personal and political are never truly separate. As bombs fall in one part of the world, art continues in another, sometimes in solidarity, sometimes in survival, always in conversation. Beyond the images themselves, Permit to See also becomes a meditation on ownership, authorship, and choice. By handing over the decision to reveal or withhold the photos, the project invites questions about who gets to witness trauma, who gets to archive joy, and who gets to decide what’s worth remembering. It’s a small act, but a potent one. In the words of Better Entry: “It’s less about making something polished, and more about not letting these moments disappear.”

Contributing artists include Polina Osipova, Lotta Lavanti, Bobbi Menuez, Kris Tofjan, YisKid, and more.