Vacuum

Overview

The woman as a recurring subject in my installations or performance work is represented as living in a state of occupation. This occupation or "occupying" force is effected through political conditions in her environment and impacts on the otherwise peaceful quality of her world. Both private and public elements manipulate this world.

In my art works, the woman I represent lives in a world that attacks her values, her love, her spirit on a daily basis, and for this reason she is in a state of occupation – and her world could be here in Palestine or elsewhere; yet despite all, she looks towards her future with a smile.

In Untitled (2005) I am photographed wearing a gentleman’s suit complete with a formal tie, but I am wearing the suit backwards. In this work, I am attempting to express the masculine dominance that is so prominent within our culture; but my wearing the suit backwards is my own intervention, commenting on the necessity to view things otherwise and from a non-masculine-dominated perspective. The gentleman’s suit does not have any particular cultural identity and could be worn by any man from anywhere in the world.

The subject/woman I represent in the majority of my work is weighed down with oppression but is filled with ambition; she is saner than she should be and yet she is also a little mad. She is both fragile and strong, she is fully aware and responsive, and she is constantly on the move. And every move she makes, every act, is an act that exhibits awareness of her surrounding environment, while simultaneously being an act of revolt against social orders/conditions.

In the new video project, Vacuum (2007), commissioned by Sharjah Biennial 8, I am seen in a desert landscape, attempting to vacuum the sand. It is an endless process, as I move across the sand in a continuous vacuuming motion in an attempt to question how much life is given and how much taken.

The actions of the subject I represent reflect an evaluation of the self and that of the subject’s environment, submission and revolt – attempting to live a life alongside the forces of occupation in all its forms, and regardless of its geography. The subject is concerned with issues that "occupy" her individual spirit and the realities of her daily life, whether political or personal.


This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 8.