Palestine from Above
Power and colonial hegemony documents in dialogue with artistic projects. 11 Sept. 2021 - 15 Jan. 2022, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah.
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Ground Truth: Dispossession and Return in al-Araqib
Collaborative project
Ground Truth is an ongoing collaborative project between Forensic Architecture and the illegalized Palestinian Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Naqab/Negev desert. It aims to produce historical and juridical evidence in support of land struggle against israeli settler colonial policies in and out of courts.
The village al-Araqib, was demolished and its people displaced by the Israeli state 186 times, a demonstration that the Palestinian Nakba is still ongoing. After every demolition it has been rebuilt anew as families exercise their right of return continuously and persistently on the ground.
While Israeli state-led land works, demolitions and afforestation transform and erase their material remains to prevent the inhabitants’ return, illegalization and erasure also render these communities invisible on maps and satellite imaging.
Through a collaborative process of DIY aerial photography Forensic Architecture and the al-Turi, al-Uqbi and Abu Freih families of al-Araqib, used kites and balloons equipped with simple cameras to form a methodology through which aerial and ground views can be gathered. This participatory process recorded material evidence for the persistence of Palestinian life on this land attesting to the continuous struggle against Israeli settler colonial violence.
‘Ground Truth: Dispossession and Return in al-Araqib’ presented here is an adaptation of the aerial interpretation analysis report produced by Forensic Architecture for the al-Turi and Abu-Freih families and their legal team for the ongoing land-rights trial.
al-Araqib:
Sheikh Sayakh al-Turi, Aziz al-Turi, Salim al-Turi, Sabah al-Turi, Hacma al-Turi Nuri al-Uqbi Dr. Awad Abu Freih
Forensic Architecture:
Eyal Weizman, Ariel Caine (Project coordinator & Researcher), Samaneh Moafi, Franc Camps-Febrer, Lachlan Kermode, Guillaime De Vore, Tiago Petatas, Nicholas Masterton. Footage from the film ‘Unrecognised Forum’ by Alina Schmuch and Jan Kiesswetter.
Collaborating Organisations:
Zochrot/ Debbie Farber & Umar al-Ghubari, Public Lab/ Hagit Keysar, Associations of Unrecognised Villages, ActiveStills/ Oren Ziv & Yotam Ronen, Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality (NCF), Michael Sfard Law Office, Carmel Pomerantz, Princeton University Conflict Shoreline Course, Forensic Architecture MA (MAFA) at Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths.
Part of Chapter 5: Landscape and Power
More information about this section:
Curatorial introduction and Chapters (pdf)
© Photo, text: Courtesy of artists, authors, and A. M. Qattan Foundation
Power and colonial hegemony documents in dialogue with artistic projects. 11 Sept. 2021 - 15 Jan. 2022, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah.