Al-Ma’atah is a term used by Palestinians in the West Bank to describe the narrow rotating turnstile at checkpoints, barely wide enough for one person to pass. The name comes from a chicken-plucking machine, reflecting the mechanical and dehumanizing control of movement. While the term refers to this specific structure, the work extends to a wider experience of checkpoints and barriers across the West Bank.

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In the West Bank, movement is shaped by a dense and expanding system of obstacles such as checkpoints, gates, roadblocks, and earth mounds. When this work was developed in 2022–2023, their number was already close to 700. By 2024, it had risen to over 790, and by 2025–2026 it exceeded 840 obstacles across the territory¹²³.

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The West Bank spans approximately 5,655 km². Around 18% is Area A and 22% Area B, while more than 60% is Area C under full Israeli control. Within a land that is already only about 22% of historic Palestine, Palestinian space becomes fragmented into disconnected enclaves, separated by barriers, restricted roads, and settlement infrastructure.

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This system affects not only movement, but also the body and mind. Long waiting, invasive searches, forced detours. Anger, confusion, fear, and disorientation.

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In Ma’ata, this is translated into movement. The act of plucking becomes a physical language of pressure and resistance. The body is caught in a continuous loop, repeating the same cycle of moving, being stopped, and starting again.

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The animation is structured as a loop. It doesn’t arrive anywhere. It keeps going.

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Sources

¹ United Nations OCHA, Movement and Access Report, 2023 (645 obstacles)
² United Nations OCHA, Humanitarian Situation Update, 2024 (793 obstacles)
³ United Nations OCHA, Humanitarian Reports, 2025–2026 (840+ obstacles)