 Jumana Emil Abboud and Issa Freij, Maskouneh (Inhabited), 2017. Video still. Courtesy of the artistsry. This art work reflects the theme of "Be-Longing" |
Be-Longing During the First Intifada (1987-1990s), numerous artists moved away from working in oil painting and began experimentation with natural materials, many artists were engaged in attempting to find new forms of expression outside the classical mediums of their training. This venture was also linked with the decision to depart from use of materials imported from Israel as part of a wider popular movement of disengagement with the occupation, its economy and institutions. The former dreamscapes were not represented through the imaginary pictorial field of the painting but through a sensory intoxication with the tactility and the aroma of homeland which artists created with the use of natural materials such as mud, earth, cactus, olive leaves, olive oil, clay, henna, herbs, olive oil soap, oranges and water – all of which permeated their art in paintings, mixed-media works and installations which continued into the 1990s and beyond. Artists such as Sliman Mansour, Tayseer Barakat, Vera Tamari, Nabil Anani, Rana Bishara, Nasser Soumi and others all experimented with natural materials. For example, Tayseer Barakat worked with wood and found objects, in Untitled, the surface of the wood has been engraved with abstract forms of people and animals, the work imparts the sense of an ancient hieroglyph or tablet, referencing visual traditions of the region and suggests that it is an ancient relic, while Nabil Anani’s work is made of dyed leather shows a village scene. Jifna by Sliman Mansour is an example, in which a utopic vision of the landscape is not represented through idyllic pastoral images as in previous works but more acutely through its appeal to our senses. The rich tactility of the works, the encrusted surfaces, the areas of scintillating colours resemble the effect of the passage of sunlight and shadow on stone and soil, and the feeling of warmth and heat that transpires through the work call to a nostalgia for the landscape. In Maskouneh (inhabited), by Jumana Emil Abboud, with Issa Freij, Abboud speaks of longing and belonging, and of a profound, continual wandering and searching in the landscape. This theme of rediscovering a relationship to the landscape resonates in her the videos, drawings and paintings. In her drawings, landscape and figures merge into one—female figures, ghouls, creatures. Her works impart to us what it feels like to move through the landscape—to pause to engage in intimacy and wonderment—yet they also seem to be imbued with a sense of longing. In the book On Love and Other Landscapes, Yazan Khalili juxtaposes a series of photographs of the landscape, with an intimate love story. The photographs take us on journey across hills, valleys, vistas and everyday places while we read of separation and memories of a relationship, which unfolds with the turning of each page. As we move across the landscape, the personal details of love story are revealed which convey a pervading sense of separation and lost love. |
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