2015
“This exhibition looks at works of art which tackle the effects and consequences of established walls and barriers, both physical and ideological.”
The pictures on this page are from Walls and Margins, an exhibition organised by the Barjeel Art Foundation in 2015-2016. The images and accompanying notes come from the exhibition's online catalogue which contains further information and more examples.
Steve Sabella works in large-scale photography and photographic installations, often created in a series and explores the experience of exile, notions of fragmentation, displacement, and metamorphosis, thereby challenging the perception of fixed identities.
In Metamorphosis, Sabella gives visual form to the dislocation of exile. An immediate reference to the Wall built by the Israeli government in the West Bank along the 1949 Green Line, Sabella’s image transforms the barrier into a captivating and dizzying labyrinth.
Through a technique of layered repetition, the artist spatially flattens the image. Closing off any possibility of spatial escape, the image uses visual abstraction to offer a powerful political critique of Palestinian life under the occupation.
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