No Sign of Hope

Creator: Randa Maddah | 2010

“In this work I tried to put forth my vision that is influenced by my contradictory interaction between my body and my psyche, and my inability to comprehend the entire events that occur in a peculiar society that has its own special political, social and economic circumstances. I did not wish to look for solutions or the motives and conditions that shape the current situation, bur rather I tried to present part of what lives in me while focusing on the points that seem to me to be of utmost significance. The place in this work is very narrow and the living conditions in it make it imperative for man to die by all means that can be projected. But the survivors will remain subject to duplicity, blockade and internal contradiction. The awaited redeemer can only rid us of the harmful scenes without alleviating our pain, and gradually as time passes on, things retain their ordinary nature. There is no possibility to be saved from this world, and there is no sign of hope for a better and less painful world.”

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Pain Killers

Creator: Majd Abdel Hamid | 2010

“The abuse of painkillers and anti-depressants in the Palestinian territories has been on the rise for the past decade. Reports have shown an increased consumption in pills such as Tramadol, valium and others in the West Bank and in the Gaza strip. The causes behind this collective inclination to abuse painkillers and antidepressants are mostly general anxiety,depression and, in some cases, sexual frustration. The Dome of the Rock has surpassed religious connotations to become the image of the capital-to-be while maintaining its importance as ‘the landmark’ of Islamic and Arab culture in Palestine. “Pain Killers” juxtaposes this sacred image of Palestinian aspirations with pain suppressing and antidepressant drugs, thus serving as a dialogue between Palestinian rhetoric and reality, fantasy and drug-altered states of mind. The work also references models of the Dome of the Rock made by Palestinian prisoners. The dimensions were calculated by dividing the real dimensions by a factor of 62, and 10,000 pill capsules were used. Size : 54 × 98 cm.”

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Bitter Bitter

Creator: Noor Abu Arafeh | 2010

“… uncertainty: “What did you say?” “I said, what is homeland? I was asking myself that question a moment ago. Naturally. What is a homeland? Is it these two chairs that remained in this room for twenty years? The table? Peacock feathers? The picture of Jerusalem on the wall? The copper lock? The oak tree? The balcony? What is a homeland? Khaldoun? Our illusions about him? Fathers? Their sons? What is a homeland? With respect to Faris al-Lubda, what is a homeland? Is it the picture of his brother hanging on the wall? I’m only asking.”from ‘Returning to Haifa’ by Ghassan Kanafani’.”

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Ramallah in the Past

Creator: Vera Tamari | 2010

“An affliction or a blessing? To many of its original inhabitants, most of whom have in the course of the last hundred years immigrated to North America, seeing Ramallah now, is both an affliction and a blessing. Their individual and collective memory of the place - the “village” they had left behind, has become confused and somewhat marred by the dramatic change in recent decades. Ramallah now is a throbbing cosmopolitan city, a heterogeneous social structure, experiencing fast demographic and economic change and the emergence of the new middle class as observed in the change in peoples’ attire, in living styles, in behavior and in accent. There is as well as an unprecedented construction boom and transformation in the landscape. The ethnographic section in “Ramallah - the fairest of them all?” mirrors issues of roots and authenticity, touching on the meanings of belonging, ownership, loss and estrangement. It’s a tale of Ramallah as it was in the 40’s and 50’s of last century, a small town rooted in the history of its family clans and origins. Relived in this exhibition as if through the mirror of the past, Ramallah is remembered as a charming place, with personal stories of love, immigration, marriage, myths, heroes and anti-heroes. It’s a story that narrates life modes, ceremonies and rituals of private, sometimes mundane reality of everyday life. A cry of loss? Perhaps, yet this exhibition is an invitation for recovery and reflection not only on the Ramallah that was but what it ought to be.”

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PASTPORTS

Creator: Rajie Cook | 2010

“For more than a hundred years there has been a regular flow of immigration to the USA by Ramallah citizens, where they now form one of the most sizable communities amongst Arab immigrant groups in North America. This work prepared by artist Rajie Cook is a tale of the poignant hardships of immigration and estrangement. “Pastports is a documentary about my father›s first journey from Ramallah to America in 1906. My father Najeeb Esa Cook, was born in Palestine in 1886. The video takes the viewer on the thirteen years of this journey working as a peddler in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, restaurateur in Chicago, Illinois, miner in Bonne Terra, Missouri, department store stock room worker in Chicago, laying railroad track and building railroad freight cars in Aurora, Illinois. He returns to Ramallah with his brother Boulos in 1919 and marries Jaleela (Totah) Cook. Najeeb and Jaleela came to America in 1927 and raised their family and five children: Lillian, Rajie, Julia, Wadie and Edward. Najeeb died at 94 on September 9, 1980.”

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Terra Fidea - Land of Fidelity

Creator: Vera Tamari | 2010

“I can’t recall when I first heard that strange melody coming from his house, the one opposite mine… I stood there for a long while absorbing the sound and watching his melancholic face and long dreamy gaze. He looked towards me ! does he see me as I am able to see him?… is he playing for me?… is he wooing me with his music? These lines are from “al Lahn al Awwal” (The First Melody) , a love novella by Ramallah author Yasmin Zahran. Partly biographical- partly fictional, the story is centered on the platonic relationship of Raya and Musa. The backdrop is a neighborhood of old Ramallah - then a small village and the misty valley with the terraced hills surrounding that valley. The protagonists: people from that village, family members, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, village elders and a myriad other characters some real while others as if extracted from folk tales. The exquisite mostly poetic narrative of the story, portrayed in intimate descriptive vignettes takes us to various locations and situations, shedding light on the daily life of Ramallah before 1948, as people went with their normal activities and practices. This was the “authentic” Ramallah before immigration, wars and political conflicts changed the fundamental nature of the place. Visual artist Vera Tamari, titling her work “Terra Fidea – Land of Fidelity” adapts sections from Yasmin Zahran’s book, in an installation of readings and painted tableaux specially created for this exhibition.”

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Al Riyadh

Creator: Emily Jacir and Yazid Anani | 2010

“A series of public interventions which explore the rapid transformation of the urban fabric of Ramallah. Ramallah is becoming a city of grey concrete towers with skeletons of half-finished high-rises everywhere. It seems that there is a construction site on every corner with new high-rise buildings replacing old buildings and wiping out the city’s architectural heritage. With a neoliberal economy that is still in the process of spatial appropriation, urban spaces in Ramallah are on a trajectory of accommodating global processes despite the fact that they exist under Israeli occupation. The influx of new global telecommunication technology, transnational politics, and global economy has caused a turbulent shift; the landscape is being destroyed, there is a proliferation of gated communities, growing social segregation, continued destruction of the rural agro-economy, and an ever increasing obsession with consumerism. Much of the architecture of the gated communities is a reproduction of the colonial imagery. “Al Riyadh” the promise of a paradise is an attempt to create moments of criticality in the transition and collision between locality and neoliberalism. It questions the correlation of the decline of the Palestinian collective political project and its resistance to colonialism with the emergence of a city entrapped by neoliberal politics, neo-capitalist structures and a complete isolation from the Palestinian community”

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Projection

Creator: Inass Yassin | 2010

“Inass Yassin’s “Projection” is a public intervention originated as part of a body of work that examines modernity and the transformation of urban space and the architecture of the city of Ramallah. The work is a public invitation for witnessing the downfall of the building of Al-Waleed Cinema. “Projection” examines the cinema and its multilayered social history, tracing back the past through exploring narratives and visual icons from posters, ornamentations, architecture, projection machines, and other objects. The process of recent urban transformations in Palestinian urban centers have lead to a rapid erasure of the intimacy of cities, their social histories and memories of the past as represented in the architectural heritage. With its current worn structure and unnoticed damaged sign, Al-Waleed Cinema reflects the fragility of a derelict urban structure that still holds its iconism through its notorious name while the excavation work for its renewal is nevertheless, progressing very close to its foundations. “Projection” stages critically the schism between the glorious history of Al-Waleed Cinema and the temporality and distortion of a live projection within its present demolished architecture.”

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A Poem for Gaza

Creator: Remi Kanazi | 2010

I never knew death

until I saw the bombing

of a refugee camp

craters

filled with

dismembered         legs

and splattered   torsos

but no sign of a face

the only impression

a fading scream

I never understood pain

until a seven-year-old girl

clutched my hand

stared up at me

with soft brown eyes

waiting for answers

I didn’t have any

I had muted breath

and dry pens in my back pocket

that couldn’t fill pages

of understanding or resolution

in her other hand

she held a key

to her grandmother’s house

but I couldn’t unlock the cell

that caged her older brothers

they said:

we slingshot dreams

so the other side

will feel our father’s presence!

a craftsman

built homes in areas

where no one was building

when he fell

silence

a .50 caliber bullet

tore through his neck

shredding his vocal cords

too close to the wall

his hammer

must have been a weapon

he must have been a weapon

encroaching on settlement hills

and demographics

so his daughter

studies mathematics

seven explosions

times

eight bodies

equals

four congressional resolutions

seven Apache helicopters

times

eight Palestinian villages

equals

silence and a second Nakba

our birthrate

minus

their birthrate

equals

one sea and 400 villages re-erected

one state

plus

two peoples

…and she can’t stop crying

never knew revolution

or the proper equation

tears at the paper

with her fingertips

searching for answers

but only has teachers

looks up to the sky

to see Stars of David

demolishing squalor

with Hellfire missiles

she thinks back

words and memories

of his last hug

before he turned and fell

now she pumps

dirty water from wells

while settlements

divide and conquer

and her father’s killer

sits beachfront

with European vernacular

this is our land!, she said

she’s seven years old

this is our land!

she doesn’t need history books

or a schoolroom teacher

she has these walls

this sky

her refugee camp

she doesn’t know the proper equation

but she sees my dry pens

no longer waiting for my answers

just holding her grandmother’s key

searching

for ink

Found here

Flying Paper

Creator: Nitin Sawhney & Roger Hill | 2010 - present

“Flying Paper tells the uplifting story of resilient Palestinian youth in the Gaza Strip on a quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown. This feature-length documentary film is directed by Nitin Sawhney and Roger Hill and co-produced with a team of young filmmakers in Gaza. Since summer 2010, we began working with a great team of Palestinian youth whom we trained through our Voices Beyond Walls youth media program to cinematically capture the culture of kite making and flying among youth and their spectacular record-breaking event, despite the ongoing blockade in Gaza. We hope this film will showcase the creative voices of Palestinian youth, one that American and global audiences so critically need to hear amidst the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and the recent youth movements for change occurring across the region.”

Found here