“A Century of Tradition and Innovation: the Badran Family” – October 2007
Artists:
Rasem Badran, Samira Jamal Badran, Jamal Rasem Badran, and Ola Rasem Badran
Curator:
Salwa Mikdadi
Partners:
Consulate General of Spain/Spanish Cooperation Office in Jerusalem
Description:
The Badran exhibition of diverse works of art, architecture, and design marks a century of contribution by three generations of the family, known for their innovation and reinterpretation of traditional arts. Unable to meet in their homeland, their art unites them in Jerusalem, where the family patriarch Jamal Badran worked on the 1920s’ restoration of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of Rock. The exhibition shows work by Jamal Badran, artist and expert in Islamic decorative arts and crafts who first established art education in Palestine; his son, the world-renowned architect and artist, Rasem Badran, who restored the original decorations for the Salah al-Din minbar (burned in al-Aqsa arson in 1969); his daughter, the visual artist, Samira Badran whose mixed media and installation explores the physical/psychological impact on Palestinians of crossing roadblocks; his grandson, architect Jamal Rasem Badran; and his granddaughter, the costume and set designer, Ola Badran, presenting models of stage sets for a play on war and trauma.