Artists:

Maha Dayeh, Sophie Halaby, Mona Hatoum, Vera Tamari, Mary Tuma, Manal Zuabi

Curator:

Rula Khoury

Description:

“Cycle” is an exhibition of the works of Palestinian women artists from different generations, who explore multiple ways of self-expression through different forms of media: four sea paintings by Dayeh; Halaby’s paintings of the female figure; Hatoum’s personal video Measures of Distance; Tamari’s photographic calendar Countdown; Tuma’s installation of thwab Unsung Heroes; and Zuabi’s performance piece titled In Between.

The wonder of life and nature is a miraculous cycle of our individual and collective existence and experience and that of the cosmos embracing us. Each work in the exhibition is a portrait of the emotional state of the artist in one particular phase of a cycle.  A cycle of daily life, of questioning existence, of philosophical wonders and speculation. For women, specifically, their cycle starts from their personal experience of being daughters, growing to girls and women, often mothers to grandmothers, where another cycle starts. Throughout these phases the woman explores a fusion of cycles; her daily routine, her adventures, her naivety and maturity, her emotional composition and biological transformations. Cycle also contains the meaning of the intimate: its role in the woman’s body and the source of her passion to live, create, and experience inner change.