Return of the soul -The Nakbah project

1. Return of the soul -The Nakbah project 2004May the Journey begins in Lublin, East Poland 2007 January Al Hoash Gallery, The Palestinian Art Court are interested in the project. They invite me to be an artist in residence 2007 September I arrive in Palestine for the first time for three weeks 2007 Octoberthe start of the making up to 3,000 figures February 2008 I go to Lebanon to begin second duplicate exhibition with 3,000 figures 2008 May 15thExhibition opening to mark the 60th commemoration of Al Nakbah (The Catastrophe)

2. The artist’s journey • Why Palestine? • I had been working with a number of Polish theatre companies • On three occasions I visited Majdenek, a Polish concentration camp • The last visit was in May 2004, that is when the journey began

3. Majdenek- a concentration camp in Lublin, East Poland • Between 1942 to 1944 extermination took place on mass • Estimated killed 200,000 • In mates 40% Jews 35% Poles and others, Belarussians, Ukrainians, Russians, Germans, Austrians, etc

4. The red army liberated the camp before the Nazis had time to clear away the evidence of their atrocities. Consequently the camp was left intact with mounds of hair shaved from the heads, clothes, spectacles, children’s toys thousands of pairs of shoes and even mountains of ashes take from the incinerated bodies 4

5. The camp

6. My artistic journey began with shoes, I had previously designed a promenade performance in a disused shoe factory on the suburbs of Athens using hundreds of pairs of shoes. Majdenek had hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes on display 6

8. On my last visit I bumped into a group of Israeli pilgrims. I felt a terrific empathy for them trying to imagine what it might be like if I had someone close to me who had been murdered in this way. When I exited from the camp however I saw that the group had placed miniature Israeli flags on a grassy bank. The sight of these flags filled me with alarm. In my mind this was a blood drenched flag associated with war crimes and atrocity. I decided to undertake a period of intensive research beginning with the Israeli flag created in 1948. I soon realized that this flag came to represent a process of ethnic cleansing that aimed to rid Palestine of its indigenous population.

9. This initial experience at Majdenek which led to the questions that surrounded the creation of the Israeli flag motivated me into doing an art project that would require a great deal of research. 9

10. An Nakbah 1948Over 750,000 Palestinians had to flee their homeland escaping from a systematic terrorization process

11. I quickly realized how little I knew about the Palestinian history and the terrible injustice that had been imposed upon them. • From the pages of history books and photographs I moved into the camps that still exist after 60 years. 11

12. Bedawi and Nahr Al Bared • I photographed refugees from N a B living in UNRWA schools in Bedawi. N a B was virtually demolished by the Lebanese army in 2007. 12

13. 1948 2008 13

14. It was on my last leg of the project’s journey in Lebanon that I realized I had come full circle. From the first Nakbah 1948 to the last 2007 at Nahr Al Bared 14

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17. Inspiration – Um Ali’s dream Unexpectedly the inspiration for the art work came while I was watching a film at The Palestine Film Festival in London. In the film a women has a dream. She sees Palestinians being hung like clothes on a laundry line. She asks: Why are they doing that to the poor people ? Because they are Palestinians, that way they are kept in a state of suspension, they are neither able to touch heaven or earth”

18. While experimenting in wax, I dipped a papier mache figure into the boiling substance, the figure started to take on its own shape and form. In the whimsical way of an artist’s imagination the figure spoke to me, • “I am the one” she said “I am your project!” 18

21. The figures increased in number but all the time I could not forget Um Ali’s dream, the figures representing people kept in a perpetual state of suspension. • I began brainstorming suspension which lead to tank art 21

22. Following “tank art” I still wanted to create a work that was sculptural and began by placing the figures up in a model box 22

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26. Workshops • I decided that the figures should be given a life and soul by being made by Palestinians across the region, both in and out of camps. • In order to teach the making of the figures, I created related educational workshops covering anatomy for artists, proportion, body language and emotion, movement and Palestinian costume 1930’s to 1940’s. • Working with regional partners Al Hoash gallery, Jerusalem, Al Balad Theatre,Jordan, Shams Theatre and Al Jana, Lebanon, it was organized for me to stay in refugee camps giving a six day workshop. • Living in the camps with families was an essential part of my journey not only to gather first hand testimonials but also to try and gain an understanding of the depravation and difficulties suffered by Palestinian refugees. 26

27. The workshop program began in Ramallah, young professional artists were chosen to lead further workshops in collaboration with The Red Crescent , in Kalandia and Al Amari camps

28. Kalandia and Bethlehem

29. Jerusalem

30. Zarqa camp Jordan 30

31. Lebanon Bus camp 31

32. Bedawi camp 32

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34. Borg Barajne 34

35. Having established that I wanted to create thousands of small wax figures that represented the exodus out of Palestine, each figure has to have an identity of a person or first witness who left . A substantial part of the project has been gathering identities from across the region • Questionnaires were distributed as widely as possible • Seeking answers from across the pre 1948 map • Questions relate to the time of exodus • Rolls of paper are suspended between 3metre x 30 cm strips of plexy glass 35

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38. Gathering Identities through video interviews

39. Inorder to take the Nakbah project into a public space I began working with Ramallah artists painting the stenciled outline of the Nakbah figures on the apartheid wall 39

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41. I have been working in Edinburgh for a number of years as a theatre publicist and producer. Most notably with Teatr Biuro Podrozy ‘A fierce and flaming sensual event: shocking, beautiful, unmissable. 'Unforgettable… terrifying, electrifying, eloquent' Guardian Carmen Funebre, performed by Teatr Biuro Podrozy The highly successful production based on the witness statements of Bosnian refugees, won massive media coverage, top Festival awards and went on to more than 45 countries around the world

42. Taking the Palestinian Catastrophe to the world 60 years on Art has a unique ability to inform, to raise questions by engaging the spectator’s emotions first then through a cerebral process of the mind Still few in the world realize the sustained injustice which Palestinians have suffered for over sixty years. The aim of this art work is to act as monument that has been touched by thousands of personal lives Edinburgh with its massive international media focus offers a platform with the possibility to give the story of the 1948 Nakbah exposure 42

43. 3000 Palestinians arrive in Jerusalem 43

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45. The opening- al Hoash Gallery, East Jerusalem - May 15th 2008 In commemoration of 60 years of Nakbah 45

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48. Figures made by Palestinians • Each figure has an identity • Identities are gathered from across the region and the diaspora around the world in order to ensure that the pre-1948 map is represented • A sound sculpture accompanies the hanging testimonies, recordings were taken from different individuals • Identity installation through questionnaire = strips of paper sheets 3metres x 30 cm in perplex glass hung are from the ceiling • As the installation travels the world it is contributed to and increases in size • Having travelled the world the figures finally return to Jerusalem - Palestine 48

49. Exhibitions Al Hoash Jerusalem, AL Mahatta Gallery West bank, Palestine Edinburgh Arts Festival, Scotland Darat Al Fanun Jordan, Shams Theatre, Beirut, Lebanon 49