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No Man's Land?

Divided, oppressed and displaced. This is the commonly held view of the Palestinian people. More divided than ever since the death of Yasser Arafat, in continuous conflict with Israel since 1948 to secure some kind of existence on the little bit of land left over for them. But the wall that Israel has built around them has not cut them off culturally. Gemak’s exhibition No Man’s Land? highlights the Palestinians’ strong connection and engagement with the rest of the world, albeit imbued with a strong sense of their own origins.

Economic blockades, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the absence of a real, functioning government have led to deep divisions among the Palestinians. Gaza is governed by Hamas, while President Abbas’s Fatah movement – more accepted by the West and Israel – though not part of the current interim government, controls the West Bank. Ramallah, on the West Bank, manages to flourish fairly well, thanks to international financial support and relatively little Israeli interference.

No Man’s Land profiles artists whose concern at this fragmentation of the Palestinian identity has led them to attempt to redefine what it is to be Palestinian, permanently consigned to No Man’s Land. Raeda Saadeh, a young performance artist from East Jerusalem, uses her body to express impossible issues of identity. In his installation Red Line – which consists of forty cardboard boxes with paintings, drawings or mirrors in the bottom – painter Shadi al-Zaqzouq shows how imprisoned the inhabitants of Gaza feel. The Palestinians’ freedom of movement is severely restricted by impassable roads, checkpoints and barriers, all in the name of security. This situation is depicted – sometime ironically – in the videos of Multiplicity and Sharif Waked, and in the photographs of Rula Halawani.

An extensive programme of activities is also planned to accompany No Man’s Land?, including a unique performance by Raeda Saadeh, film screenings and debates on Tuesday evenings, and a major seminar on 16 and 17 October examining the role of Jerusalem in the conflict from the Israeli, Palestinian and ‘external’ perspectives.