Spt. 2020
In what way and from what perspective was your first relationship with Jerusalem formed, politically, visually, and personally, and which of these formations had the strongest impact on your artwork?
As a young boy, and not much has changed for the current generation, I became aware that I belonged to a country that was not a country, but a land occupied by Israel called Palestine. We are all born free. But, I guess the right answer as to when my connection developed with Jerusalem started at birth, at that moment when I got detached from the umbilical cord and became bound, tied to an infinite number of other attachments, including the Israeli occupation of the land, self, and mind. Life after that becomes about our endless journey to free ourselves from all things to live the life we imagine for ourselves and not the one forced upon us.
For years, I stated that Jerusalem was the capital of my imagination. And in Jerusalem, there is no escape from politics, a city that consumes one politically, visually, and personally. As an artist, the visual is what intrigues me the most being my formal way of expression. Unfortunately, most of our vision has become contaminated by the occupation. I often transform this toxicity into art, or the opposite, I look for the invisible aesthetics by examining the layers of the polluted visible.
...
Leave a comment