Artists:

Rana Bishara, Sandi Hilal, and Mervat Issa

Curators:

Rana Bishara and Rawan Sharaf

Description:

The second annual art exhibition in recognition of Palestinian women artists presented a program that commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, a date that dramatically changed the region and its people and remains seared in our individual and collective memory. In this exhibition, three prominent artists addressed this issue with intelligence, sensitivity, and creativity. “Memory Triptych” tackles three main aspects of the Palestinian history directly related to Al-Nakba. 

Rana Bishara’s work was composed of glass sheets equal to the years since al-Nakba. Each sheet has a silk-screened image from the daily life of Palestinians over the past sixty years.  Mervat Essa presents her work The Coffin that is one part of a larger project named Scarves. Scarves tell the story of expulsion and death for Mervat, based on the story of Bir’im – her lost village.  Sandi Hilal’s video The Room of Dreams is also one component of a larger work – the long-term project Stateless Nation. The video presents a series of interviews with Palestinians about their dreams.  The project includes several objects, one being an installation of magnified passports held by Palestinians as travel documents rather than citizenship that has been exhibited in several locations in Palestine and abroad.