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Art of Palestine: from the river to the sea
P21 Gallery, London
THE Art of Palestine: From The River To The Sea showcases a unique collection of Palestinian paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations and drawings by Palestinian children, along with a series of tapestries, sharing the culture, heritage and struggles of the Palestinian people.
Between them these exhibits display the works of a diverse range of artists, both well-known and emerging, including those still working in Gaza as well as of those living in exile in neighbouring countries and elsewhere. As the curator, Faisal Saleh, explained at the exhibition’s opening night, the aim is to celebrate Palestinian creativity and resilience. Alongside exhibits that depict Palestinians’ suffering, there are exhibits that demonstrate Palestinians’ pride in their arts and cultural heritage.
One of the exhibition’s most striking features is a large map, set out on the floor. This depicts Palestine as it was before 1948, “from the river to the sea,” marking Palestinian towns and villages that have been obliterated, subsequently. Given the colonialist view that Palestine had indeed been a land without people, as has been so erroneously claimed, this asserts the opposite: that Palestine was a land with its own rich cultural heritage.
It was absolutely necessary to assert Palestinian history, culture and creativity in the face of these strategies to erase them, Palestinian-born academic, physician and author, Gharda Karmi, went on to explain. The establishment of the Palestinian Museum in Woodbridge, US, (developed by Faisal Saleh) asserted precisely this, asserting the significance of Palestinian history, creativity and culture – right in the heart of the beast. The US Woodbridge Museum needed to be the forerunner of Palestinian museums in Britain and elsewhere, affirming the Palestinian story through the arts.
I was particularly moved by the Palestinian History Tapestry exhibits. This display forms part of a larger project, using the embroidery skills of Palestinian women to illustrate aspects of the land and peoples of Palestine from Neolithic times to the present. The project was proposed and then developed by Jan Chalmers, herself an embroiderer, who had worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza. She had, in addition, contributed to the creation of a tapestry, depicting South African history leading up to the end of apartheid.
The first phase of the project was launched in 2018, funded by charitable donations and from the sales of Palestinian embroidery. This has been about expressing solidarity and steadfastness, drawing attention to Palestinian history and heritage, and also to “the internationally declared right of Palestinians to return to their home,” as the exhibition explained.
Jan recounted the story of the project’s development from the inception through to the present day, working in partnership with five co-ordinators based in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as with co-ordinators based in Lebanon and Jordan. The co-ordinators work with the embroiderers and designers, although some of the women embroiderers do also make to their own designs. Each embroidered panel can stand alone as a piece of art in its own right. Or they can form part of a series.
The selection on display at this particular exhibition includes an embroidered tapestry showing barbed wire, depicting in Gaza “a life under siege,” a tapestry showing refugees in flight, and a tapestry illustrating a section of a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. These are just some of those that I noted at the time, but there are many more to be appreciated, in addition.
The exhibition’s selection represents no more than a fragment of the total even so. Jan explained that there are over a hundred tapestries in existence altogether, so far. The panels that are on display look relatively light — a readily transportable art form that symbolises the refugee experience in some ways, perhaps. There is a plan to move them to the Palestinian Museum in the US where they can be safely kept and exhibited for the time being however – until such time as they can be taken home to Palestine.
Meanwhile the exhibition’s selection of tapestries can be seen here in London together with the paintings, drawings, photos, sculptures and installations that are currently on display at the P21 Gallery.
Morning Star readers will find so much of interest here, images that are deeply upsetting but also images that are deeply inspiring, images of resilience and beauty.
Runs until December 21. For more information see: p21.gallery
