All That Remains
2018
Wood shard collected from Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on top of fragments
with photographs taken in a Palestinian house occupied by Israelis in 1948.
Glass & Light Installation | 195 x 22 x 22 cm | UNIQUE
Arts Illustrated
Reunification of Self and Home
Since then, whether at home or living in physical exile, he’s been among the Palestinian artists who use their media to challenge notions of authority and politics, as well as examine the personal and cultural impacts of the area’s ongoing occupation and violence. His work not only explores those underlying issues and interweaves questions surrounding notions of identity, reality and hyperreality but also offers solutions that, if not practical, are startling in their boldness.
BLOCKS exhibition catalogue | Museo Riso, Albergo della Povere | Palermo
Daniela Brignone | ALL THAT REMAINS
The work All That Remains was presented to the public on May 15, 2018, the 70th anniversary of the start of the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from the land of Palestine — an event known as the Nakba, or "catastrophe," for the Arabs of Palestine.
A game of mirrors creates a cross-reference between the materials contained in the cube. The silence and the light effects produce an environment of profound reflection. In putting the materials together, a relationship of proximity is established between them, while at the same time their autonomy is recognised.
The combination is strong and speaks for itself, placing the observer before great questions. How could what had already happened happen again? Can a mortally wounded people inflict on another the same suffering they themselves endured? Was another solution possible? Will that paradox ever end? The themes the work forces us to confront are immense, universal, and yet concrete at the same time — raw themes that have burned, every day for over 70 years, on the skin of those who live the paradox and those who observe it. In the great circle of history, can events repeat themselves with a reversal of roles that leaves no hope for the progress of humanity?
Sabella, a Palestinian artist born in Jerusalem, often reflects in his work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All That Remains offers new space for discussion, and is a further step in the message of liberation of the Palestinian people that runs through many of his works.
