Scouting for Locations

Overview

Scouting for Locations is an artist book by Yazan Khalili which extends his commission for Sharjah Biennial 11 of the same name. It is centred around the novel Men in the Sun (1963) by Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani, which explored the conditions and narratives of Palestinian labour in the Gulf states during the later part of the 20th century. Set in the Iraqi city of Basra in 1958, Kanafani's novella follows three Palestinian refugees who vanish on the journey to Kuwait in search of labour. Khalili's book is an extension of the novella and presents a fictional narrative taking place in Sharjah, in which a film crew disappears while scouting for locations for a film based on an adaptation of Men in the Sun. Published in the book is what remains of the crew – photographs, texts and notes – bringing attention to everyday labour struggles in the Gulf through a transhistoric Palestinian lens.