ARABICITY by Rose Issa Projects

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ISBN: 978-0-9559515-5-8 First published by Beyond Art Production in 2010 Copyright © All images, the artists, 2010 Copyright © All text, the authors, 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A full cip record for this book is available from the British Library A full cip record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Printed in Lebanon by SAQI www.saqibooks.com Design: normal industries Copy: Katia Hadidian Production: Francesca Ricci

Rose Issa Projects would like to thank the Beirut Exhibition Center for hosting the exhibition and Solidere for its generous support without which this exhibition would not have been possible. We would also like to thank the participating artists, Saleh Barakat, Evans Haji-Touma and Omar Mazhar for their generous loan of works, and Petra Kottmair and Jonathan Wood for their invaluable contribution. A smaller version of this exhibition first took place at The Bluecoat arts centre in Liverpool in summer 2010. Rose Issa Projects and Beyond Art Production in collaboration with Beirut Exhibition Center

arabicity

basEl abbas and ruanne abou-rahme buthayna ali chant avedissian Ayman baalbaki hassan hajjaj susan hefuna fathi hassan raeda saadeh

edited by rose issa

“beyond identification” – by Rose Issa 4-9 basEl abbas & ruanne abou-rahme 10 -15 buthayna ali 16-19 chant avedissian 20-25 Ayman baalbaki 26-31 hassan hajjaj 32-37 fathi hassan 38-43 susan hefuna 44-49 raeda saadeh 50-55 biographies 56-64

contents

Beyond Identification When 22 polymorphous countries share the same language, geographical and historical sphere and a majority the same religion, is there a common cultural link? Arabicity (Ourouba) or “Arabdom” is a response to this question and explores what some “Arab” concerns may be, conceptually and artistically. Through the work of nine very different artists from the Arab world, it shows how they resist stereotyping, challenge the confines of their identity, reshape the parameters of their traditions and bring visual poetry to life. Another line of enquiry is whether there are any links between the old and new aesthetic in Arab culture. Most Arabs believe poetry to be the basis of their culture, and I tend to agree. In Arabic the word for “poetry” – “shi’r” – is derived from the verb “to know” – “sha’ara”. Today, however, this verb means “to feel”, “to learn and understand intuitively”, “to be aware of” and “to be conscious of”. Similarly, all the artists in this exhibition cannot help but feel, intuit, be aware and conscious of the political realities of their environment, and they all share a sensitivity to their past. A common thread running through their work is a multi-layering of Arab history. Fathi Hassan is a Nubian from Egypt who has settled in Italy. His celebrated self-portrait, La Divisione (left, not in the exhibition), is an excellent illustration of Arabicity: a face both black and white, yin and yang, reflecting his experience as an Arab in Italy, belonging to two different cultures – East and West, south and north. His installation, Rosario (pp. 42-43), pays homage to the places and people who have inspired and influenced him – Egypt, Lebanon, Nubia, Jerusalem, artists, poets, writers, singers and public figures. Coming from a matriarchal society, his grandmother Monira makes an appearance in this selection of 99 names. He Fathi Hassan, La Divisione, mixed media on paper, 45x30cm (1991)

only ever depicts the first name, as in Arabic names have a meaning, too. For example, “Shams” means “sun”, but also refers to Diwan Shams, the masterpiece of the 13th-century mystic poet Jalaleddin Rumi; “Hafez” means “the custodian, the one who knows the Koran by heart”, but is also the great 14th-century poet Hafez of Shiraz. “Motanabbi” means “he who claims to be a prophet” and is the 10th-century Iraqi poet who spoke about the freedom that comes from self-knowledge. “Naguib” is “of noble breed” and also the Nobel Prizewinning Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. “Attar” the perfume seller, but also mystic poet Farid ed-Din Attar, author of Conference of the Birds; “Darwich” means a “dervish”, “hermit”, or “Sufi”, but can also refer to Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian poet. Another series by Fathi Hassan (pp. 39-41) refers to lyrics from nationalistic pop songs by the Lebanese singer Julia Boutros, written after the Israeli invasion of 2006: “The Sun Sets on Justice (“Ghabet Shams El Haq”), “How Strange” (“Shi Gharib”), and the hit “Where are the Millions?” (“Weyn el Malayeen”). Joyful and powerful, Chant Avedissian’s stencils celebrate his Icons of the Nile (pp. 20-25) – the performers, politicians, public figures, and people on the street who represented modern Egypt’s social and political heyday in the Fifties and early Sixties, when secularism and democratisation were on a high. He started the series in response to the first Gulf War in 1991, concerned that everything he remembered and cherished would be destroyed. Famous and glamorous faces – the legendary singer Om Kolsoum, an elegant King Farouk or pensive Gamal Abdel Nasser – appear in the same frame as pharaonic, Islamic and Ottoman decorative symbols and everyday objects, from bus tickets to thermos flasks. All are captured in stencil form, a technique that demands reducing line and colour just as the ancient Egyptians did with their hieroglyphs. To Avedissian, the human figures represent the birth of a nation, while its objects convey its essence – all distilled into a colourful and vibrant aesthetic experience.

In her wonderful juxtaposition of words and concepts, the nomadic artist Susan Hefuna (pp. 4449) shows her awareness of boundaries, layering Eastern elements with Western techniques. For example, she transforms traditional wooden mashrabiyyas into cast-bronze silver sculptures, embedded with Arabic or English words, such as Drawing (Rasm) – which she has been doing for the last two decades – and Dream (Helm) – for a better world, better times, better understanding, better knowledge, better commitments and fulfilments. There are also words of self-assertion, such as Ana (I or Me), which suggests taking responsibility, initiative and action in life; being selfreliant and self-aware rather than passive and dependent on community expectations. In “We”, a large installation of five rows of swings (pp. 16-19), Buthayna Ali also uses words dear to her creative world, painting them on the rubber seats of swings. Rouh (Soul), Hayat (Life), Jou’ (Hunger), Thaqafa (Culture), Horiyya (Liberty), but also Ana (Me), Jounoun (Madness), Tame’ (Greed), Adl (Justice), Moqadas (Sacred), Watan (Homeland), Hob (Love), Masrah (Theatre) and Jamal (Beauty) – these finite and variable words describe the important concepts that make the artist tick, and are an assertive way of saying what may be important to us today. The installation is in a darkened room, with a spotlight on each word and its shadow on the sand. Critical words (such as egoism, ignorance, poverty, and insanity) sit with uplifting ones (paradise, book, air, theatre), to create a work made of layers of memories, experiences and histories. Strength and positivity radiate from Hassan Hajjaj’s sun-filled photographs (pp. 32-37), portraying the streetwise attitude of the young men and women of Marrakech. After years of working as a fashion designer, DJ, and photographer, he decided to pay tribute to the ordinary people from the street of his adopted city. He brings them to the forefront of our attention, whereas many Westerners have always used the Arab world as a backdrop for their paintings, fiction and fashion shoots. He does so with humour, love and attention to detail, creating many of the props and costumes himself out of industrial food packaging, fake designer material and football team flags.

“the artists in this exhibition are conscious o f t h e p o l i t i c a l r e a l i t i e s o f t h e i r e n v i r o n m e n t, a n d a l l s h a r e a s e n s i t i v i t y t o t h e i r pa s t ”

Hajjaj not only styles his subjects, he also sets the resulting photograph in handmade frames made of recycled materials or wood, inlaid with match boxes, soda cans, and other colourfully packaged products. Each work stirs a memory, celebrates the charm of everyday objects and pays homage to the people that surround him. His characters have great personality and pride, something much-needed at a time when there are few Arab role models. Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme (pp. 10-15) came to the limelight at the 2009 Venice Biennale where, for the first time, there was a Palestinian Pavilion at this prestigious international cultural event. Their video and sound installation, Ramallah Sydrome made in collaboration with a group of Palestinian intellectuals, captured the claustrophobia of living in bomb shelters, which so many Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis and other people in war zones experience. In Collapse (pp. 8-13), they explore a more poetic world, layering music and sound with footage from classic black and white films, such as the The Battle of Algiers (1966), Open Door (1963), documentary reels on Palestine in 1948, images of Edward Said’s childhood in Jerusalem, and recently filmed street scenes from Ramallah, where they live. They illustrate the fragmented nature of memory and nostalgia by juxtaposing faces, places, events, time and culture – certain images almost erase others, and reveal the ambiguity of the Palestinian experience. Ayman Baalbaki’s life experience and artistic trajectory is entwined with that of his Lebanese homeland, which has endured repeated invasions by neighbouring Israel since before he was born in 1968 and 1973, to after his birth in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996, and most recently in 2006. The experience of constantly being forced to abandon home and become a refugee informs all his work, as does the landscape of destruction he has had to witness (pp. 26-31). Yet somehow there is an energy and defiance in the ruins he paints and the characters he portrays; his paintings have a sense of optimism that comes from the strength of survival.

Baalbaki uses humour and poignancy to express his story, qualities that also feature in the filmed performances of Raeda Saadeh. In “Vacuum” (pp. 51-53), a play on the myth of Sisyphus, a solitary woman vacuums the desert – how better to illustrate the Palestinian experience, with its exhausting attempts to lead a normal daily life under a 60-year occupation? When she portrays herself as Vermeer’s “Milkmaid” (p. 55), she pours milk in a traditional Palestinian house – without a roof, alluding to the many villages that have been destroyed by Israel and prevented from being rebuilt. When she appears as the Mona Lisa, Israeli settlements dot the background in place of Tuscan villages; her “Diana” (p. 54) has nowhere and nothing to hunt, as Palestinians cannot farm their own land. Saadeh’s is a witty response to the paradox of her personal situation: a Palestinian with an Israeli passport who therefore cannot visit any Arab countries, while Israelis with European passports can and do. “Arabicity” is therefore about the different routes and roots that artists from the Arab world choose, whether living inside or outside the region. It gives them a space in which to express their response to the personal, national and regional issues affecting the Arab world – why we do what we do and accept what is done; how we can resist clichés, injustice, opportunism and sometimes opportunities. Their work celebrates life and is tinged with nostalgia, influenced by memories. In their diverse media and subject matter, their works also reflects the pulse of the region. In chaos they discover what endures.

Rose Issa London 2010

However long and branching, Is the poet’s journey When the shadows lead him astray, He finds his way back From ‘The Road to Meaning’ in A River Dies of Thirst by Mahmoud Darwish (Saqi Books, London 2009)

All images are by Ruanne Abou-Rahme, from the installation Collapse by Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Opposite: The Angel of History is Dead, digital print, 65x43cm (2009)

BASEL ABBAS & RUANNE ABou-rahme Collapse is a sound and video installation based on a compilation of material from audio and film archives. Disturbing the frontier between reality and fiction, past and present, the film footage includes sequences from the Egyptian classic, The Open Door (directed by Henry Barakat, 1973); the Soviet masterpiece, The Battleship Potemkin (dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925); and of a young Edward Said in pre-1948 Jerusalem in the documentary, In Search of Palestine (dir. Charles Bruce, 1998). The resulting piece brings together imaginary and actual moments of resistance and loss, and highlights the disruptions that shape shared histories of struggle, in Palestine and elsewhere. In The Open Door, adapted from Latifa Al-Zayyat’s novel, a young woman’s coming-of-age is set against the larger social, economic and political conditions of mid-20th-century Egypt. The Battleship Potemkin is a Russian silent film about the 1905 rebellion of a Russian battleship crew against their Tsarist officers. Exploring the overlap between personal trajectories and historical narratives, the chosen sequences convey a sense of the ephemeral, appearing as fragments of lived or imagined memories. In a suspended, void space, somewhere between absence and presence, nostalgia and déjavu, the installation explores an anxious and obsessive state of being, a scattered condition obscured by repetition, forgetfulness, and the subsequent feelings of impotence and frustration. A fragmented, anachronic and a-temporal dialogue ensues, set to a soundscape sourced from news footage, archive material, and field recordings from Palestine. Collapse questions an incomplete memory, eradicated right before its transition from present to past. It is a meditation on the contemporary Palestinian landscape, ruptured by a breakdown of political community, memory and narrative. It constitutes the artists’ attempt to trace the a-historical momentum that led to this breakdown and gather the pieces that were left behind. Text by the artists, Ramallah, 2010. “Collapse” was produced with the support of The Delfina Foundation, London.

The Angry Tide Rises I, digital print, 43x65cm (2009)

I Am on the Other Side II, digital print, 43x65cm (2009)

May Dreams, digital print, 43x65cm (2009)

Opposite and following pages: Details of We, installation of rubber swings, rope, sand and lighting (2010)

buthayna ali E veryone chooses his own swing W e all swing like children Y et someone else is p u lling the strings T he greatest p u sh is yet to come P olitics , economy, religion , love W ar vers u s peace L ove vers u s hate W e are here and there , we are alive W e are h u mans “We” by Buthayna Ali

I am not myself, not Buthayna Ali, not a body, not a woman, not a Muslim, not a Syrian, not an Arab… Many prisons force themselves upon me. They are combined in me, melting me, turning me into hard and fluid forms. Hard to defend my existence, while fluid to escape, through my work, away from those jails. One day I had to choose my purpose; I chose Art. When I stood up, I was standing on a ground full of needles. But my femininity shouted colours. Full of blood and damage, full of repetition and stability, full of hate and only empty words of love. I started my career as a painter. But painting was not enough for me to deliver my messages. Being aware that art has taken over traditions and has set its tools free, I recognised that I was chained. So why not take the advantages of this new artistic path, to convey my thoughts, and to interact with my viewers? It was then that I understood that I was a mother. The world tried to veil my womb, but I begat! I begat kids! That can’t be executed. Not by politics, by religion, nor by money. My materials are any optical element, any media that is available and is acceptable for the work of art. My work is me. It’s my existence, identity, memory, contradictions, screams, my words and my questions. Text by Buthayna Ali, Damascus, 2010

The Village Girl (detail) All works from the Icons of the Nile series, pigment and gum arabic on recycled cardboard, 50x70cm (1991-2004)

CHANT AVEDISSIAN Apart from an equal dialogue, there are other ways to encounter a culture; one can try to learn from the other culture, or one can try to mould the other culture. In either case, we must meet half way, to avoid becoming a copy of the other or to render the other a copy of us. We lose our identity if we forget who we are, and become the Other. In the second case we also lose, as we might think that what we are teaching is the only truth for humanity, but it is our truth, which is an insult to the humanity of the other. Learning from the Other was high on the agenda of the Egyptians. But their approach had limits, as they already had an older culture, with a different language and alphabet spread throughout a geographically vaster span. The Egyptians were already part of the culture of encounter and had been for centuries. From Saragossa to Samarkand, teachers and masters were known to each other, and master and students alike could travel all that distance from west to east and back again, in search of knowledge shared by people of the same language and craft. Culture cannot be imposed by armed invasions, secret police, or the construction of hospitals, zoological parks, archaeological institutes, football stadiums, cinemas, museums, operas and theatre, or even the partial financing of a dam. Culture is the work of specific groups at specific times and in specific geographic locations. All might be different but all are equally valid and complementary. Culture, like humans, develops by dialogue during encounter, by learning from one another, and grows together by enriching each other. No culture can develop by building walls around itself, even if the walls are continuously maintained. The original images used here to create the stencils had been created by several people: photographers, editors and propagandists who invented stories for a given purpose. These images today tell stories not just about what they depict, but also about the kind of people who constructed the [original] images to convey a specific message and their intentions. Edited extract from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Patterns, Costumes & Stencilsâ&#x20AC;? by Chant Avedissian (Saqi Books, 2009)

Amina Dahjour

Top row: Amina Shokry – Mariam Issa al-Banna – Mohamed Fahmy al-Darestawy Middle row: Power to the People – Eve Votes – The New Social Life at the High Dam, Aswan Bottom row: Doodoo – Family at a Kom Ombo Social Club – Baboor

Top row: Working Women – Jamal al-Din al-Afghani – Mother of Boys Middle row: Shafik Ibrahim Onse – Bimbo – Rockets of Our Country Bottom row: Soviet-African Cooperation – Doria Shafik – Mrs Souad Labib

The Beloved of the People

The Sniper, acrylic and mixed media, 210x125cm (2009)

AYMAN BAALBAKI I was born in south Lebanon in 1975 – the year the Civil War broke out – and my family fled to Beirut. My entire childhood and teenage years were spent escaping violence. Then in 1995 we were forced to move again, when developers flattened our area to build luxury housing. After that, in 2006, our home, my studio and all our belongings were destroyed once more in the Israeli attack on Beirut. My work is built partly on my personal experience, and partly on the Lebanese collective memory. The political establishment has tried to erase everything related to the war. This is nothing new, since authority always seeks forgetting – as Milan Kundera said, “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” The problem in Lebanon lies also in people who participated in this camouflage. Now there is a generation of artists who are aware of their role in instituting history and taking responsibility towards the past (what Nietzsche called devoir de mémoire). But we can’t pretend that we are the conscience of Beirut because work based on memory is a knife with two edges – it blinds a bit from seeing the present. I paint what I saw and still see. My installation, Destination X, is an exact image from the Lebanese war: the universal experience of the refugee, your whole life edited into bundles of belongings piled on top of a car as you move from place to place. When I made it, I felt that I was exaggerating with all the stuff on top of it, but in 2006 I saw a car in the street whose baggage exceeded mine! My subjects are exterior – what I see on the street – but they have an internal life. The figures may be masked, helmeted, or wrapped in head scarves, like Al Mulatham (the freedom fighter), but that does not only hide their identity – it also hides their emotions. I was trying to remember images of figures from the Civil War. After that, they had new significance with September 11, the Intifada in Palestine and the Gulf Wars – each time a certain incident happens in the Middle East, people always refer to this figure. When we were bombed in 2006 it was like the Civil War all over again, but this time I saw defiance in the debris – the buildings may be destroyed, the windows shattered, but Beirut reinvents itself and creation can emerge from destruction. Text by Ayman Baalbaki, Beirut, 2010

Yaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;illahi! (God!), acrylic on brass and steel panel with gold leaf and light bulbs, 210x127x8cm (2008) Opposite: Al Mulatham, acrylic fabric laid on canvas, 200x150cm (2010)

Destination X, mixed media installation at the Bluecoat arts centre, Liverpool (2010)

Hassan’s Angel – Miriam from the ’Kech Angels series, metallic Lambda print, walnut-wood frame with soda cans, 135x93.4cm (2010)

hassan hajjaj Moving to London from Morocco in 1973 was one of the most dramatic things that has ever happened to me. Everything was so different and so difficult compared to home, and I guess that’s how my love for home deepened. But then, returning to Morocco over the years to visit family and friends, I notice things that I might not see if I was there every day – and I see them with a new focus. This experience has made me realise that everything that happens has a purpose for the journey. I first started taking photographs in the 1990s after working as an assistant on a fashion shoot for a European magazine. It bothered me that art directors were always using Morocco as an exotic backdrop for beautiful Western models in Western fashion, never showing the people that actually live there. It made me want to show the world what I saw of the country and its people – the energy, the attitude; the inventiveness and glamour of street fashion; the fantastic graphics on everyday objects and products; people’s happy outlook and strength of character. People comment on some of the women being veiled, but look at how modern and defiant they are – blending tradition with pop fashion. I especially love Morocco’s light and colour. I love all colours, but especially a mish-mash of colours: I’ve learned not to be scared of mixing everything together. Music is also very important to me and I listen to it while I work. Maybe you can tell – the images and the handmade frames have a kind of rhythm. I really admire artists who express themselves in an academic way and make references to the past and to other subjects. My work is more of an expression of what I feel – I don’t know how to be academic. So, I hope my work talks for me – and I want it to appeal to everyone, whether they’re a cleaner or an art critic. Text by Hassan Hajjaj, London, 2010

Above: Classic Saida, digital C-Type print, walnut-wood frame with kohl packaging, 68cmx88cm (2008) Opposite: Nikee Rider from the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Kech Angels series, metallic Lambda print, walnut-wood frame with Papillon matchboxes, 89.7x62cm (2010)

M-USA, digital Lambda print, walnut-wood frame with soda cans, 106cm x 72cm (2010)

Haram Aleikum (Peccato a Voi/Shame on You), mixed media on board, 126x93.5cm (2010)

FATHI HASSAN Below the humid clouds of the desert lies a silent sweep of sand, and this is what I see: names. Names that have been carved by the whispering of sacred words. Many people may see them as merely words and letters, but not me. They are signs to the place where the subconscious flowers; they tear at rationality; they embroider and nurture the human heart. A strange and wonderful gift, mysterious as the desire for motherhood, guides the hand in an echoing weave, stitch after stitch. A name written and adorned becomes a beautiful rose, jewelled with saintly dreamers who do whatever they can for us to erase pain and anger, transform our insecurities and fears into joy and love. Above the rigid demands of the intellect there is intuition, which allows us to become forgiving and to see the infinite in everything. It can take us to the unreachable, where dreams are timeless and bright stars and the umbilical moon wait for us. Our names are what make us unique. They are the first sounds we hear; a voice calling out to us by which we know who we are. It is time to extinguish hostility and to courageously step forward to where love, hidden and eternal, awaits. Beyond our name, nothing must belong to us and we must belong to nothing. Text by Fathi Hassan, Le Marche, 2010

Wayn il Malayeen? (Where are the Millions?), mixed media on board, 126x93.5cm (2010) Opposite: Shee Gharib (Cose Strane/How Strange), mixed media on board, 126x93cm (2010)

Above and opposite: Details from Rosario, installation of 99 works, mixed media on board, 27x23cm each (2010) Top row: Majnoun – Al Attar – Africa – Antara. Middle row: Naguib – Aisha – Qoloub – Al Hallaj Bottom row: Farhad – Wadad – Shirin – Jubran

Manfalouti

Silence Forever, ink and wood, 260x260cm (2010)

susan hefuna Generally, I can feel a tension of “belonging” and “non-belonging” between people. However, the cause of this tension comes from people’s projections; it comes from the outside world rather than from how I feel inside myself. Identity is mostly defined as someone belonging to a certain cultural and social group, but the world is getting more complicated to define nowadays. My own “belonging” to different cultures has influenced my work, which is also about identifying the disruptive and unifying elements of intercultural communication. I see it as my great benefit to be able to observe things in life from different angles at the same time. For me, the mashrabiya is a structure that symbolises multiple layers: it protects the inside world from the outside, filtering the light and cooling the inside space, but those on the outside looking in cannot fully see those on the inside looking out. It operates in two directions, with the possibility for dialogue, rather than closure. The mashrabiya is also a metaphor: in my experience, most human beings are not able to see the world without a screen of social and cultural projections. I started weaving words into hand-carved wooden mashrabiyas in 2004. If you stand close to the work, the writing disappears. It is only from a distance that you can read it. The words are between the inside and outside. In the West the work is generally seen as an abstract image, the Arabic writing becomes a pattern structure. In the Arab world, the viewer can read the word “Ana” (Arabic for “I”) and the work has another meaning. It plays with coding and de-coding the different viewing experiences and projections in different cultural contexts. People read my work depending on their own background. They only are able to see what they know. I have always admired the abstract form of structures – molecules, DNA, the scientific details that illuminate the bigger structures of life. To me, mashrabiyas and molecular structures are similar, especially in the joins where the lines intersect. Observing my own and other people’s reactions to my work, I have learned that there is not one truth, but layers of interpretations. The observer is responsible for what they are observing. There is no “innocent” view. Text by Susan Hefuna, Cairo, 2010

Dream (Helm), cast-bronze silver, 50x70x4cm (2009)

Drawing (Rasm), cast-bronze silver, 50x70x4cm (2009)

Ana (Myself), three elements, cast-bronze silver, 30x90x4cm each (2010)

Opposite: Still from Vacuum, two-channel video installation (2007)

RAEDA SAADEH A recurring character in my installations and performance work is a woman living under political occupation, which influences the otherwise peaceful quality of her world. Private and public elements manipulate this world, and the occupying force has many facets: it can take the shape of tangible, everyday realities – such as a concrete wall, a fence, a checkpoint, a curfew, a stone barrier – or it can express its force on the face of a child, a home, a language, and traditional cultural expectations. There are limitations on her personal freedom as well, affecting her role as the woman, the mother, the lover, the guide and the protector. She seeks justice and longs for change. She is not blind to the opponents around her and pushes forward with enduring strength. At times, she feels that she almost has to assume a sort of madness in her behaviour so that she can live unharmed by oppression, in an attempt to protect those she loves from negative forces of fear. In my artworks, the woman I represent lives in a world that attacks her values, her love, and her spirit every single day. She is in a state of occupation. Her world could be in Palestine, where I live, or elsewhere. Yet despite it all, she looks towards her future with a smile. She may be weighed down by oppression but she is filled with ambition; she is saner than she should be and yet she is also a little mad. She is fragile yet strong; fully aware and responsive; and constantly on the move. And every move she makes, every act, exhibits an awareness of her environment while simultaneously being an act of revolt against social conditions. The woman’s actions reflect an evaluation of the self and her surroundings, submission and revolt – attempting to live a life alongside occupying forces in all their forms, and regardless of their geography. She is concerned with issues that “occupy” her individual spirit and the realities of her daily life, whether political or personal. Text by Raeda Saadeh, Jerusalem, 2010

Vacuum, two-channel video installation (2007)

Diana, digital print, 100x120cm (2007) Opposite: Milkmaid, digital print, 110x110cm (2007)

BASEL ABBAS Palestinian artist and musician Basel Abbas was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1983 and now lives in Ramallah, Palestine. He received his Diploma in Sound Engineering from the School of Audio Engineering, Glasgow, Scotland (2003-04) and his BA in Recording Arts from the School of Audio Engineering Institute, Middlesex University, London (2004-05). He co-founded the audio-visual group Tashweesh and the music collective, Ramallah Underground (under the stage name “Aswatt” – Arabic for “sounds” or “voices”), which has performed all over the world. He frequently collaborates with artist Ruanne Abou-Rahme on installations and live audio-visual performances. Their joint works include “Contingency” (8-minute, 4-channels), at Home Works V, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2010); “Ramallah Syndrome” (13-minutes, 6-channels; with Sandi Hillal and Alessandro Petti) at the 3rd Jerusalem Show, Al-Ma’mal Foundation, Jerusalem (2009); “Ramallah Syndrome” (40-minute live audio-visual performance) at the S.A.L.E. Palestinian Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) and the 3rd Riwaq Biennale, Bier Zeit, Palestine (2009); and “Collapse” (9-minutes, single channel) for “Arabicity” at The Bluecoat Gallery with Rose Issa Projects (2010); Liverpool Cinema Now, Cambridge Film Festival (2009) and Delfina Foundation, London (2009). Tashweesh features on “Floodplain” by the Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch Records/Warner Music Group, 2008) and Ramallah Underground’s “Brute Force” features on “Street Talk 5” by Bleubird (Endemik Music, 2009); “Session Daye” on “The Sheikh’s Batmobile Playlist” Book/CD (Penguin Publishing Canada, 2009); “Taht il Ankad” on “Perifericio: Sounds from Beyond the Bubble” by Victor Gama (2007); and “Reporting Live” on “Chakal & Co” Severely Ill Productions, Switzerland (2006). Abbas also composes film scores and sound pieces, including “For Cultural Purposes Only”, for Sarah Wood’s Animate Projects Ltd (2009); “The Stolen Child”, for Nial O’Suilleabhain’s One Eye Film (2009); “Double Exposure”, for Ruanne Abou-Rahme; “Chronicles of a Refugee” for a 6-part documentary by Adam Shapiro (2008); and “It Is So If You Say So” for Sam Bardaouil & Khaled Majzoub, American University Dubai/DUCTAC Gallery, Dubai (2008).

RUANNE ABOU-rahme Palestinian artist Ruanne Abou-Rahme was born in Boston in 1983 and grew up in Palestine, where she lives today, in Ramallah. She received her BA in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths College, London (2001-2004) and her MA in Independent Film, Video and New Screen Media from the University of East London (2005-2006). She frequently collaborates with Basel Abbas on installations and live audio-visual performances (see page left), and previously performed with him for the “Ramallah Underground” music collective. Most recently she and Abbas co-founded the audio-visual group “Tashweesh”. Abou-Rahme’s feature-length documentary, “Double Exposure” won Best Foreign Documentary award at the 2008 Terra Di Tutti Film Festival, Bologna, Italy and is touring Italy for the Flores in Piemonte: Moving Film Show (2009-2010). It was screened at the 11th International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers, Patras, Greece (2009); Marxism Festival, London (2009); Flying Broom Film Festival, Ankara, Turkey (2008); Festival De Rio, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (2008); and STRIKE: Centre Sociale, Rome (2008). She has also performed with Ramallah Underground at The Forum, Melbourne Arts Festival, Australia (2009); the Taybeh October Festival, Ramallah, Palestine (2009); Sfinks Festival, Antwerp, Belgium (2009); Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival at The Bluecoat Gallery (2009); toured Italy in 2008 at: Strike, Rome; Paci Paciana, Bergamo; Baraonda, Milan; TPO, Bologna; Newrotz, Pisa; and CSO Pedro, Padua; and appeared at the Beursschouwburg Centre, Brussels (2008).

Buthayna ali Painter and installation artist Buthayna Ali was born in Damascus in 1974 and now divides her time between Canada and Syria, where she has taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus since 1995, becoming Professor in 2002. After receiving her graduate and post-graduate diplomas in Fine Arts at the University of Damascus (1995, 1996), Ali studied in Paris, receiving a Diploma in Painting from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris (2001) and a Diploma (2001) and later an MA (2003) in the History of Islamic Art at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Her most recent solo shows include “I’m Ashamed”, Green Art Gallery, Bastakiya Art Fair, Dubai (2009); “We”, Al Rywak Gallery, Damascus (2006); “Promises”, Atassi Gallery, Damascus (2003); “Tent”, National Museum, Damascus (2002); “Bedouin Painting”, Caisse d’Epargne Gallery, Angers, France; and “Tent”, Parc Mozart, Paris (2001). Selected recent group exhibitions include “Sharing Waters: Sauna Meets Hamam”, Istanbul (2010); “Taswir – Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity”, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2009); “The Other Shadow of the City”, the Arab Bank and other venues, Jerusalem (2009); the Eleventh Cairo Biennale, Egypt (2008); Third Glow Festival Forum of Light and Architecture (with Bayan Al Sheikh), Eindhoven (2008); “Traversées”, Art Paris, France (2008); Dar Kalemat Gallery, Aleppo (2007); Darat Al Funun, Amman (2007); Tenth Istanbul Biennale (2007); “Sexy Souks”, Point Ephémère and the Maison des Cultures du Monde, Paris (2007); Europe Art Exhibition, Geneva (2006); Brunei Gallery, London (2004); and the Syrian Cultural Centre (with Pierre Al Maari), Paris (2000). Buthayna Ali’s work is in the public collections of the Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Enrico Navarra Gallery, Paris; and Darat Al-Funun Foundation, Jordan.

CHANT AVEDISSIAN Painter, photographer and textile designer Chant Avedissian was born in Cairo in 1951, studied Fine Art at the School of Art and Design, Montreal (1970-73) and printmaking at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, Paris (1974-76). On his return to Egypt, he created a vast photographic archive for the architect Hassan Fathy, whose philosophies about traditional materials and motifs are a lasting influence. He now lives and works between Cairo and Yerevan. Avedissian has exhibited extensively internationally, and his solo shows include “Chant Avedissian”, Rose Issa Projects at Art Dubai (2010); “Chant Avedissian: A Contemporary Artist of Egypt” at The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC (2000); “Chant Avedissian”, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (1998); “Icons of the Nile”, Leighton House Museum, London (1995); The Kwangju Biennale, Kwangju, South Korea (1995); “Monoprints”, 50 x 70 Gallery, Beirut (1994); “Idols of the Nile”, SOAS, University of London (1993); “Panels”, The British Council, Cairo (1992); and “Magie Matière”, Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris (1990). Recent group shows include “Taswir: Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity”, Martin Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin (2009); “Re-Orientations: Contemporary Arab Representations”, European Parliament, Brussels (2008); “Love Affairs”, IFA Galleries: Stuttgart, Bonn and Berlin (2003-2004); “Ekbatana”, Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Denmark (2000); “Out of the Blue”, Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo (1999); “The Shape of Memories (In Morpheus Armen)”, Antwerp, Belgium (1998); “The Right Way to Write”, The Dalton Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia (1996); “The Art of African Textiles”, Barbican Art Gallery, London (1995); “Lumières d’Egypte” (Lights of Egypt), IMA, Paris (1995); and “Images of Women”, British Council, Cairo (1994). His work is in public institutions worldwide, including the British Museum, London; the National Museum of Scotland; the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam; the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of African Art, both in Washington DC; and the National Gallery of Jordan, Amman.

AYMAN BAALBAKI Painter and installation artist Ayman Baalbaki was born in Lebanon in 1975, where he spent his childhood. He now lives and works in Beirut. He studied Fine Arts at the Institut des Beaux Arts in Beirut and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Decoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris, and then received a Diploma from the University of Paris VIII (also known as the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis). As well as creating site-specific works in the Middle East and Europe, Baalbaki has exhibited widely, including the solo shows “Ayman Baalbaki” at the Luce Gallery, Turin (2010), “Switzerland It Ain’t” (“Ceci N’est Pas La Suisse”) at Rose Issa Projects, London (2009) and “Ici est Ailleurs” at the Agial Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon (2006). His recent group shows include “Thirty: Ayman Baalbaki and Sheelagh Colcough”, at Studio 4-11, Belfast (2005); “CM3”, at Cité Internationale Universitaire, Paris (2003); and “Contemporary Art Encounter: Imagining the Book”, at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt (2002).

hassan hajjaj Photographer, designer and installation artist Hassan Hajjaj was born in 1961 in Larache, Morocco and moved to London in 1975. He now lives and works in London and Marrakech. He has established an international following for his photography, and was shortlisted for the Jameel Prize 2009 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London which toured Riyadh, Damascus, Beirut, Casablanca, Instanbul and Tehran from 2009-2010. He has had numerous solo shows, including “ ‘Kech Angels”, Rose Issa Projects (2010); “1430 in Casa”, Matisse Gallery, Casablanca (2009); “Dakka Marrakesh”, Bamako Encounters, Mali (2009) and Leighton House Museum, London (2008); “Hassan Hajjaj”, The Third Line, Dubai (2007); the traveling show “Graffix From The Souk” (Institut Francais, London, 2003; Taros, Essaouira, Morocco, 2002; Apart Gallery, London, 2001); and “Pop Art In The Kasbah”, Ministero Del Gusto Gallery, Marrakesh, Morocco (2000). Hajjaj has also appeared in numerous group exhibitions, including “Icons Reloaded”, Elysee Arts, Liege, Belgium (2009); “Re-Orientations”, Rose Issa Projects at the European Parliament, Brussels (2008); “Mediterraneo”, Italian Institute, London and “The Liverpool Arabic Art Festival”, England (both 2008); Christie’s Gallery, Dubai and Sotheby’s, London (both 2007); “Social System”, Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange, Penzance (2007);

“Contemporary African Visual Arts, Painting &

Furniture”, British Museum, London (2005); “Africa Remix”, Hayward Gallery, London (2005); “Black British Style”, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2004). In addition to his artworks, Hajjaj designs clothing (for Momo and “Fashion in Motion”, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2005); album covers (for Momo, Blur and Pino Daniele); hotels (Riad Yima, Marrakesh, 2006); bar-restaurants (Andy Wahloo, Paris 2003); and installations (“Hassan Hajjaj: Le Salon”, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff and Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool, both in 2009; “Tut’s Tearoom”, King Tutankhamun Exhibition, the O2 Centre, London, 2007; “Arabise Me”, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2006; “Salon Enrique”, Royal Festival Hall, London, 2005; “Meltdown”, Patti Smith concert, Royal Festival Hall, London, 2005; and “Graffix From The Souk”, UNICEF/The Day Of African Child, London, 2003). His work is in the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

FATHI HASSAN Painter Fathi Hassan was born in Cairo in 1957 to Sudanese and Egyptian parents. He studied with the celebrated sculptor Ghaleb Khater and in 1979 won a grant to study set design at the Naples Art School in Italy. Since graduating in 1984, he has lived in Le Marche, Italy. Hassan has exhibited extensively in Italy and internationally. Recent solo shows include “Black is Beautiful”, Galleria Black, Bologna (2009); “Invites”, Museum Arnheim, Netherlands (2009); “Inscribing Meaning”, Fowler Museum, Los Angeles & Smithsonian Museum of African Art, Washington DC (2007); “Fathi Hassan: Selected Works”, Skot Gallery, New York (2007); “Descent of the Gods”, Fusion Art Gallery, Turin (2004); “Angel”, Egyptian Academy, Rome (2004); “9th Cairo International Biennale”, Egypt (2003); “Illustrations pour Enfants”, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2003); “Africa Screams”, Bayreuth, Germany (2003); “Imagining the Book”, The Library of Alexandria, Egypt (2003); “Spirit Matter”, Art-Pro-Art, Lahr, Germany; “Welcome 02”, Palazzo Sora & Palazzo Esposizioni, Rome (2002); “Fathi e Misfatti” and “Between Sky and Earth”, both at the Monti Gallery, Rome (2001); “Sacrosanct”, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Rome (2000); “Beata Africa”, Skoto Gallery, New York (1999); “Out of the Blue” and “My Sister, the Palm”, both at the Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo (1999). Fathi Hassan has also participated in numerous group shows, including “Adorned/Unadorned”, Skot Gallery, New York (2009); Dakar Biennale, Senegal (2008); “Text Messages: Five Contemporary Artists and the Art of the Word”, October Gallery, London (2006); “Italian Dreams”, GASP Gallery, Brookline, Massachusetts (2006); and “Textures: Word and Symbol in Contemporary African Art”, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC (2005). He also featured in “Aperto ‘88”, at the XXIII Biennial of Modern Art, Venice (1988). His work is in the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum, London.

susan hefuna Susan Hefuna was born in Germany in 1962 and lives and works between Egypt, Germany and New York. Her most recent solo shows include “Ana – Of Dreams, Patience and Realisations”, Rose Issa Projects, London (2010); “Wien 1431/2010”, Intervention at the Belvedere, Vienna (2010); “Susan Hefuna”, Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna (2010); “Susan Hefuna”, Gallery Paul Kasmin, New York (2010); “Susan Hefuna”, MUMOK, Vienna;

“Susan Hefuna”, the Freud

Museum, Vienna (2010); “Susan Hefuna: Mapping Wien”, Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna (2009); “Hefuna/Hefuna”, Gallery Volker Diehl, Berlin (2009); “Patience is Beautiful”, The Third Line Gallery Dubai (2008); “Susan Hefuna”, ACAF, Alexandria (2008); “Knowledge is Sweeter than Honey”, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2007); “ANA/ICH”, Kunstkarten, Wintherthur (2007); “X Cultural Codes”, Townhouse Gallery Cairo and Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool (both 2004); “Susan Hefuna”, Stadtgalerie, Saarbruecken, Germany (2004); “Susan Hefuna”, Kunstverein Heidelberg, Germany (2004); “Susan Hefuna”, Galerie der Stadt Backnang, Germany (2004); “Susan Hefuna”, Kunstverein Lippstadt (2000); “Susan Hefuna”, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2000) and “Navigation X Cultural”, National Gallery, Cape Town (2000). Recent group shows include “On Line: Drawing Through the 20th Century”, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010); “Susan Hefuna, Bharti Kher, Fred Tomaselli”, Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland (2010); “Imagining the (im)possible”, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville (2010); “Fare Mondi”, Venice Biennale (2009); “Taswir – Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity”, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2009); “Museum as Hub: Antikhana”, New Museum, New York (2008); “Word into Art”, British Museum, London (2006); and “Lasting Foundations”, California African-American Museum, Los Angeles; National Building Museum, Washington DC; Chicago Cultural Center; and Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, Detroit (2006-2007). Susan Hefuna’s work is in several public collections, including The British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris and Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Neue Galerie am Joanneum, Graz; Burger Collection, Zurich; Sharjah Art Museum; Collection of HH Sheikha Salama, Abu Dhabi; DIFC, Dubai; and CU Art Museum, University of Colorado at Boulder.

RAEDA SAADEH Performance artist, installation artist and photographer Raeda Saadeh was born in 1977 in Umm Al-Fahem, Palestine and studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where she lives and works today. In 2010 she performed a new work, “Apart, We are Together” at the Adelaide Festival of Art, Australia, and her photographs were showcased at Art Dubai by Rose Issa Projects. She has also participated in several group shows in Europe and the Middle East, including “Rêve et Réalité: Art Contemporain  du Proche-Orient”, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland (2009); the Summer Show at Rose Issa Projects, London (2009); “Re-Orientations: Contemporary Arab Representations”, for Rose Issa at the European Parliament, Brussels (2008); “Sharjah Art Museum”, at Art Cologne, Germany (2005); “Fantasies of the Harem”, at the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, Spain (2003); and “Williamsburg Bridges Palestine”, New York (2002). Saadeh has exhibited in the Biennales at Sharjah (2007) and Sydney (2006), and in 2000 was awarded the “Young Artist of the Year” prize by the AM Qattan Foundation, Ramallah. Her work is in the public collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain de Lorraine, Metz, France; and Le Magasin, Grenoble, France.

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