The Tenth Maqama: Paper, Clay and Memory III

Creator: Mahmoud Taha | Unknown

“This exhibition presents ceramic works and limited edition prints by renowned ceramist Jordanian Mahmoud Taha. Over the past four decades, Taha has been focusing on Jerusalem and depicting the dire conditions of the Palestinian people. Through the use of calligraphy he highlights the rich legacy of the Islamic civilization. Born in Yafa, Palestine in 1942, the artist obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts specializing in ceramics from the Baghdad Academy of Fine Arts in 1968. While in Baghdad, he studied Arabic calligraphy with the late Hashem Al-Khattat.”

Found here

Compromised Lands (Terres Compromises)

Creator: Matthieu Gafsou | 2010   

“Terres compromises (compromised lands) is a series of forty-five shots from October 2010, during a one month journey through Jordan, the West Bank, and Israel. The son of a Jewish father, he was compelled by curiosity to visit these places with great  historical importance. Gafsou was intrigued by the structures of Israeli cities, and decided to focus his work on this. Usually perched on hill or mountain sides, the buildings are mostly identical and closely packed. For Gafsou, the way space is used reflects a desire of domination, much like unreachable medieval fortresses. As a blast from the past, we find in some pictures the archeological site of Masada, the well-known and tragic Jewish fortress from antiquity. The Terres compromises photographs capture moments that seem unpredictably serene. They mark a poetic break, a surreal “freezed frame”, from a land that itself is frozen by a seemingly endless conflict.”

Found here

Arab Army

Creator: Fawzy Emrany | 2007   

“In a workshop, tucked away in a small alleyway in the old city of Amman, the symbol of the so-called “Arab Army” – the Jordanian Armed Forces – is sown onto uniforms by semi-mechanical machines. The place itself and the way of production evoke nostalgia for pan-Arab ideas which were established during the movement for independence from the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the last century. The great Arab revolution led by Sherif Hussein bin Ali ended with the British Mandate and the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Greater Syria was split into Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Great Britain had the Mandate for Palestine, and the Balfour Declaration allowed tens of thousands of Jews to migrate to Palestine. Gamal Abdel Nasser, Saddam Hussein and others invested in the idea of Palestine and inspired the Palestinians in one way or another to continue to carry the flag of Pan-Arabism. Today, not least because of economic instability and progressive Pan-Islamism, the idea of an Arab Nation is nothing more than a token used and employed to fit political agendas. The embroidered symbol of the Arab Army is carried away into dreamlike spheres, where heroic action stands for wishful attitude.”

Found here

The Sexual Psychology of Hermaphrodites

Creator: Samah Hijawi | 2011   

“A multimedia performance that explores notions of national identity and belonging among Jordanians of Palestinian origin, through an analogy of the complex psychological and sexual behaviors of Hermaphrodites. The performance pivots around the dichotomy of the Hermaphrodite’s sexual psychology, while subliminally referring to the polarities that mirror indirectly on the duality of the Jordanian-Palestinian identity.”

Found here

From Sabra and Shatila…to Independence?

Creator: Adnan Yahya | 1999 

“The May 1999 show at Darat Al-Funun in Jordan is made up of sets of graphic works and paintings.  The images are variations on the theme of tyranny and oppression.  In one set of nineteen ink drawings, we see heaps of massacred humanity.  At each heap there is a small event which crowns the horror. For example a figure in screaming anguish, or a woman holding a baby and gesturing for help, or an old man pulling a dead youth out of the heap, or a youth pulling an old man, or two children walking away, or a face staring out of the pile at the crescent moon is the event dramatized by the background of horror.”

Found here