Salons - Collections of Memory and Loss
Neun Kunstinstallationen, die identitätsstiftende Objekte in den Salons palästinensischer Wohnungen untersuchen. 28. Mai – 31. Aug. 2022, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah.
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Unpictured
Installation
Unpictured is a reflection on the shattered sense of belonging to space and time that emerges from experiencing settler-colonialism. In Palestine, the Zionist regime, like all other settler-colonial projects, is not an historic event, but an ongoing systematic suppressive process aimed at the erasure of indigenous life and land. This process, what we often call the ongoing Nakba, results in a state of suspended time where both past and future are denied.
In Unpictured, I wondered what our salons would reveal to future generations about us. After collecting items from dozens of Palestinian salons, I reduced them to scraps until I had obscured all signs of when, where, and who we are. No longer seen are the family photographs, art, political decor, flags, and all the items we collectively use to express our identity and attachment to the land. They are hidden from view in the same way that the memories and meanings attributed to each item are not seen. Instead, ‘seeing’ the fragments of the Unpictured demands a creative imagination – a skill we must strengthen if we are to envision and pursue a radically different future.
Rana Nazzal Hamadeh is a Palestinian-Canadian artist. She holds an MFA degree in Documentary Media from the Toronto Metropolitan University. Her photography, film and installation works discuss issues related to time, space, memory and movement, while offering interventions rooted in a decolonial framework. Her first short film, Something from There (7 mins., 2020) was screened in film festivals across Canada, and her first solo show, "1/1000th of a Dunam," was exhibited at Toronto’s RIC gallery during the end of 2021.
© Photos, text: Artist & A. M. Qattan Foundation
Neun Kunstinstallationen, die identitätsstiftende Objekte in den Salons palästinensischer Wohnungen untersuchen. 28. Mai – 31. Aug. 2022, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah.