Dependence
Edited by Riccardo Bocco and Ibrahim Saïd
De/Colonising Palestine | Contemporary Debates | Geneva Graduate Institute
Fibreglass installation and a large wall print. Dependence powerfully captures the intricate dynamics of control and dependency that define life under Israeli occupation. Inspired by Steve Sabella's personal experience detailed in his memoir The Parachute Paradox, the artwork emerges from a pivotal moment of tandem parachute jumping with an Israeli instructor over Haifa. Sabella vividly recounts this experience, drawing a stark parallel to his broader existential reality: "[Life] under occupation is like the reality of a Palestinian attached to an Israeli in a tandem jump. There is an Israeli on the back of every Palestinian, controlling all aspects of life—the Israeli is always in control."
Through this metaphor, Sabella portrays the constant, looming threat Palestinians face, trapped in what he describes as a "never-ending hostage situation." This installation not only reflects a physical entanglement but also provokes a deep contemplation on freedom, identity, surveillance and control under Israeli occupation.
Art Journal
Martina Corgnati | Contemporary Practices
From 1997 on, the images, series and projects of Steve Sabella are periscopes drowned in the invisible of human condition, the uncanny and the search for a meaning; an “exile” that starts as physical and contingent and ends becoming mental, a category of the soul that needs an answer, or a series of answers from each one of us; answers that change – evolve during a lifetime. So, Sabella raised the horizon to his own eyelevel: From a contingent one to a universal one, escaping every rhetoric, though not losing his identity as an artist, but on the contrary, conquering it.
Lisa Pollman | Art Radar
Born in Jerusalem, Steve Sabella is a photographer whose portfolio depicts the challenges and struggles of the human condition in familiar yet abstract forms. As a Palestinian visual artist who has lived both under occupation and in exile, Sabella’s work brings into focus a sharp and sometimes uncomfortable view of contemporary life in the 21st century in a way that begs reflection by the viewer.
"We have the Power to Change Every Structure we’ve Created on this Planet"
Tal Alon | Spitz Magazine | Berlin
Sabella is arguably the perfect protagonist: his art and writing are at once very personal as well as political and universal; his monologues are passionate, while leaving room for question marks.
