Live in Palestine

Jumana Emil Abboud, Nihaya Alhaj, Khalil al-Mozain, Rana Affo Bishara, Mohamed Harb, Emily Jacir, Manal Mahamid, Mohamad Mustafa, Mohammad Obeidallah, Raeda Saadeh, Sharif Waked

A Space Main Gallery

November 9 – December 15, 2018


Organized by AXENÉO7 in partnership with DAÏMÔN (Gatineau), A Space Gallery (Toronto) and Dar al-Kalima University (Bethlehem)

Curated by Anna Khimasia (Los Angeles), Rehab Nazzal (Bethlehem) and Stefan St-Laurent (Gatineau)

Live in Palestine is an exhibition organized by AXENÉO7 bringing together a wide-range of contemporary artists currently living and working in Palestine. The works included in the exhibition combine performative practices with political engagement by addressing some of the complexities of living in Palestine.

The exhibition spotlights both prominent and emerging contemporary artists Jumana Emil Abboud (Jerusalem), Nihayah Alhaj (Bethlehem), Khalil al-Mozain (London, ON), Rana Affo Bishara (Bethlehem), Mohamed Harb (Gaza), Emily Jacir (New York and Ramallah), Manal Mahamid (Haifa), Mohamad Mustafa (Bethlehem and Ramallah), Mohammad Obeidallah (Bethlehem), Raeda Saadeh (Jerusalem) and Sharif Waked (Haifa and Nazareth). Many of the works presented in the exhibition have never been shown in North America.

Live in Palestine brings together performance work that asks the viewer to consider how bodies, actions and images produce meaning in particular geopolitical spaces. We believe that this exhibition is crucial at this moment in view of the recent shootings of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem in defiance of the international community, and the arrest of hundreds of Palestinian children including the sixteen-year-old Ahed Tamimi. In presenting contemporary Palestinian artists to a Canadian audience, the curatorial team hopes to encourage dialogue and exchange.

This exhibition was initiated at the Art & Resistance conference organized by Dar al-Kalima University (Bethlehem), and is scheduled to tour in Canada, the US and Palestine in 2018 and 2019.

Biographies

Emily Jacir is a Palestinian artist whose projects span a diverse range of strategies and media including film, photography, installation, performance, video, writing, and sound. She received a BA from the University of Dallas in 1992 and an MFA from the Memphis College of Art in 1994. Jacir has shown extensively throughout Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East since 1994. Her 2007 solo exhibitions include Kunstmuseum, St.Gallen, Switzerland; Villa Merkel, Esslingen, Germany; and Alberto Peola Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy. Jacir’s ongoing project about Wael Zuaiter, entitled Material for a film, was featured at the 52nd Venice Biennale, where she awarded the Golden Lion. She splits her time between Ramallah and New York City.