Collective Memory
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As Presented in my semester exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts
This is a painting series containing part of my collective memory. ‘My collective memory’ as in me, my history, my parents, my family, and my country. Accompying the bookelt is a refrence document with some images that I used as part of the visual language of my expressions in the paintings.Produced as part of my studies at KABK. Above shown as presented in my collective exhibition.
ذاكــــــــــــــرة جماعيــــــــــــــة: تالا، بيــــــــــــــرزيت، فلســــــــــــــطين
Collective Memory: Tala, Birzeit, Palestine
Created with leaves, paint and some fingerprints seeping through, this paintings is a story…of generational collective memory of my family and community from my dad’s side, and. What I know, I know of, I know through those settings in our guest living room. I wouldn’t know still don’t know the full story of my dad. We, as children of our Palestinian elders, are still coming to know that story.
...يا مشــــــــــــــنشــــــــــــــل
Oh you who carry…
Made with leaves, paint and some fingerprints seeping through, this paintings is a story…older than the occupation and because of it. It brings together both sides of my family -my mother’s and my father’s sides- in relation to disguising the kids of the neighborhood when hunted down by the military occupation forces, and the disguise your eyes put on you in moments of fight and flight that make you mistake a pillow for your baby. This story was part of the majority of Palestinian families during the genocides which came with the occupation since 1948. For a fact, my grandmother was almost mistaken for a pillow, in addition to many.
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قفــــــــــــــزت عاليــــــــــــــاً جــــــــــــــداً ظنــــــــــــــوك كبيــــــــــــــراً؟
You jumped too high they thought you old?
Made with leaves, paint and some fingerprints seeping through, this paintings is a story… my age. It is a collective memory of which my two sisters and I (triplet) brought into our smaller extended family. It was a result of a status change for millions of Palestinian in which we inherited. The visual language part of an iconic photo a few months older than me. It demonstrates what age and life means to Palestinians, and what the age of Palestinians mean, or doen’t mean to the world.
“تســــــــــــــقط الأجســــــــــــــاد، وتبــــــــــــــقى الذاكــــــــــــــرة”
Bodies Fall, but ideas (/memory) endure
Made with leaves, paint and some fingerprints seeping through, this paintings is a story of…a collective memory of the majority of people with an exposure on Palestinian literature and case. Perhaps beyond. It embodies the spirit of the continuous resistance and importance of collective memory in nations under oppression.
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You focus on your roots, language and activism, addressing social issues, reaching out to communities, trying to invoke interactions, it is all there in your work. You show ambition and joy. You take on a challenge and go for it all the way. Your passion is felt as you believe in the stories you want to share.”
~Group review from the 2nd semester ‘Interactive/Media/Design’ teachers & head of departement at *KABK regarding my final exhibition which included ‘Collective Memory’, ‘Cat Toys’, & ‘Territorial’ projects -you can find them in the home page-.
Guidence:
Johan Gustavsson - Curator & Instructor at *KABK
Florian Mecklenburg - Designer & Instructor at *KABK
In consultation with: Carl Johan Hogberg - Fine Artist and Co-Head of Fine Arts Departement at *KABK
*KABK = The Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague
As Presented in my semester exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts 
