MADE IN PALESTINE

May 3, 2003 – October 23, 2003

[supsystic-gallery id=’1′]

Participating Artists:

Zuhdi Al-Adawi
Tyseer Barakat
Rana Bishara
Rajie Cook
Mervat Essa
Ashraf Fawakhry
Samia Halaby
John Halaka
Rula Halawani
Mustafa Al Hallaj
Jawad Ibrahim
Noel Jabbour
Emily Jacir
Suleiman Mansour
Abdul Hay Mussalam
Abdel Rahmen Al Muzayen
Muhammad Rakouie
Mohammad Abu Sall
Nida Sinnokrot
Vera Tamari
Mary Tuma
Adnan Yahya
Hani Zurob

Text:

Preface… Gabriel Delgado, James Harithas, Tex Kerschen
Introduction… James Harithas, Director
A Land Without a People for a People Without a Land…Tarif Abboushi
Made in Palestine: Allan Antliff
Palestinian Artists Working Under Siege… Salwa Mikdadi-Nashashibi
Made in Palestine: Ileana Marcoulesco
The Stuff of Dreams…The Stuff of Nightmares… Santiago Nasar
Made in Palestine: Tex Kerschen

The Lover
Her eyes and the tattoo on her hands are Palestinian,
Her name, Palestinian,
Her dreams and sorrow, Palestinian,
Her kerchief, her feet and body, Palestinian,
Her words and her silence, Palestinian,
Her voice, Palestinian,
Her birth and her death, Palestinian.

-Mahmoud Darwish

Made in Palestine is the first museum exhibition in the United States devoted to the contemporary art of Palestine. It is a survey of work by artists living in the West Bank, Gaza, and parts of Israel. Also included in the exhibition are a smaller number of Palestinian artists living in Syria, Jordan, Germany, and the United States.

This exhibition follows the modern history of the Palestinian people from the Naqba of 1948 to their dream for a homeland. There are evocations of the forced dispossession of the Palestinian people and testaments to the day-to-day brutality of the current Israeli occupation. It winds up with a dream for the future of Palestine. Throughout, Diaspora and occupation complicate the telling.

Palestinian artists, under the most egregious circumstances, create works of art that are a contribution to world art. Specifically, they create symbols and visual configurations that define their national liberation struggle for a free Palestine. Being an artist for Palestine is an act of courage.

Twenty-three artists were selected during a month long stay in the Near East by members of the museum staff. Others were chosen during frequent trips to New York. These artists, representing two generations of modernists and postmodernists, work in a multiplicity of techniques and mediums, including painting, sculpture, video, textiles, ceramics, and photography. In style the work ranges from realism to abstraction and conceptual art. Its influences range from the art of ancient Near East and Egypt to Dada, Surrealism, Social Realism, Abstract Expressionism, Arte Povera, and Installation Art. In other words, Palestinian artists, like their peers in Europe, the United States, and the international community, are thoroughly modern, but with a significant difference. The Palestinian artist is deeply concerned with the historical fate of the Palestinian people and with life and death issues of freedom and justice.

Most of the artists represented in this exhibition live under military occupation or in exile. Through their art, they communicate Palestinian aspirations for a better future, respect for their martyrs and their love of their land and people. They also express the pain of imprisonment and death, the innocence and the righteous exultation of their struggle. Nevertheless, this exhibition is not primarily a political exhibit. Nor is it a simple survey of contemporary art. Rather, it is an expression of cultural identity and resistance by important, courageous, and profoundly committed artists.

Gabriel Delgado
James Harithas
Tex Kerschen