Weed Control
Exhibition on Palestinian flora and colonialism. 1 September - 1 December 2020, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, with the participation of 33 artists. Curator: Yazid Anani
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Gestures of Enchantment. 2020
Digital print on flat screen
133x 79cm
Thought: Resilience
During the intifada, a potato was used as a tool by Palestinian youth to debilitate the occupation machine with a simple act: they would stick nails into it, throw it in front of soldier cars and run. The soldiers would mistake the potatoes for stones and drive over them. The nails would flatten the wheels, causing an immediate shift in street power.
Gesture: Field-guide
Gratitude and giving back in return for what is received, an approach outsiders/colonisers never adopt. In some languages, the term for plants translates to ‘those who take care of us’.
Observation: ‘The land knows you, even when you are lost’ Names are place-based, and when they are lost, part of the place is also lost. In the Palestinian dialect, medic (Medicago Orbicularis) has many names: قرص ستي، خبز العجوز، لفة السيد، مطبق
Thought:
To look at the history of colonialism/capitalism through the history of the female body and its missing accounts of activity that are not geared to the reproduction of everyday life; in particular, wild female bodies: healers, disobedient wives, women who dared to live alone and those who inspired slaves to revolt.
Observation:
To look at the history of colonialism/capitalism from a botanical perspective and the position of wild vs. domesticated plants, and its missing accounts of activity that are geared to the reproduction of everyday wisdom. Moreover, in colonialism, these activities have been subsumed to the reproduction of vegetation value only in relation to market value. Ancestral knowledge of the land and its wilderness, healing plants and seasonal cycles were dismissed, a knowledge mostly held (and gave power) by (and to) women.
Gesture: From revolt to uprising
When time and intention were given to the potato, the nails allowed it to create an ecosystem of survival that exceeded its initial functional intention. The age of the potato in the photo: one year and a half.
Gesture: Reclaiming enchantment
To see beauty and knowledge in the unseen. To appreciate the bittersweetness of a brief moment of transcendent beauty. To let enchantment shift your gaze from remoteness to insight, from insight to affinity. To allow small gestures to change you.
© Photo, text: Artist & A. M. Qattan Foundation
Exhibition on Palestinian flora and colonialism. 1 September - 1 December 2020, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, with the participation of 33 artists. Curator: Yazid Anani