Intimate Terrains

Intimate Terrains explores the changing representation of landscape by Palestinian artists and our relationship to place and location through the themes of erasure, fragmentation, distance and belonging, in a spectrum of artworks drawn from the 1930s to the present day.

Representations of landscape over the decades provide us with a prism onto the experience of loss and longing, as it has been a prominent subject matter for artists as its topography holds a central place in the identities of Palestinians.

Landscape is at once a site of projection and a layered terrain of remains, memories and histories. How do artists negotiate and articulate collective and personal memory in relation to representations of landscape? What keeps us in a place? What are our ambivalences of why we remain attached to places? What are the limits of nostalgia? How does exile and different experiences of alienation shape views of the landscape? With our diminishing view and access to the landscape, ongoing violent confiscation and destruction of the land, segregation of communities and the fragmentation and isolation of terrains, how do our intimate relationships to places manifest around a disappearing landscape? What have been and what are our and dreams and visions of landscapes of the past and future?

The exhibition explores how representations of landscape evolved over time via a selection of iconic, rarely seen works, and special commissions by artists from Palestine and its diaspora. The works encompass painting, photography, installation, video and film, natural media, sculpture, and an intervention in the Museum’s gardens. The 36 participating artists are:
Jumana Emil Abboud, Tarek Alghoussein, Jawad Almalhi, Basma Alsharif, Nabil Anani, Johnny Andonia, Rafat Asad, Asad Azzi, Samira Badran, Tayseer Barakat, Taysir Batniji, Rana Bishara, Benji Boyadgian, Hassan Daraghmeh, Aissa Deebi, Sophie Halaby, Samia Halaby, Rula Halawani, Hazem Harb, Tawfiq Jawharieh, Yazan Khalili, Manal Mahamid, Bashir Makhoul, Sliman Mansour, Jack Persekian, Khalil Rayan, Steve Sabella, Larissa Sansour, Walid Abu Shakra, Laila Shawa, Amer Shomali, Suha Shoman, Nida Sinnokrot, Nasser Soumi, Vera Tamari, Vladimir Tamari.

Parallel programme: Accompanying the exhibition is a public and education programme organised around monthly themes that address questions of ecology, archaeology, spatial politics, historicization and movement via artist talks, workshops, performances, interactive tours, film screenings, symposia and lectures. For updates on this programme, please visit our website: www.palmuseum.org

About guest curator Tina Sherwell
Dr. Tina Sherwell is an art historian, artist and curator; she was director of The International Academy of Art, Palestine, a post she has held between 2007–12 and 2013–17. Previously she was Programme Leader of Fine Art at Winchester School of Art (2005–07). She was also Executive Director of the Virtual Gallery at Birzeit University and worked with Tate Online on their digital archives (2004–06). She won a prize at the Alexandria Biennale in 2001 for her map series of Palestine. She is the author of various texts on Palestinian art and visual culture including essays on Jumana Emil Abboud, Nabil Anani, Bashir Makhoul and Sliman Mansour. Recent texts and conferences include Fields of Visions: Contemplations of Views, Vantage Points and the Unseen, From B to X Making History after John Berger, Université de Lausanne and Musée de L’Elysée (2018). Recent curated exhibitions include the Degree Show of the International Academy of Art, Palestine (2011–18), Disrupted Intimacies, French-German Cultural Centre, Ramallah (2015), Retrospective of Sliman Mansour, Palestinian Art Court - al Hoash, Jerusalem (2011).

Artistic and production team
Guest curator: Tina Sherwell. Assistant curators: Lama Takruri, Farah Aldeek. Exhibition Design: Milk Train Co. Graphic Design: Lena Sobeh. Public Engagement and Production Manager: Obour Hashash. Technical Production Officer: Khaled Sha’ar. Registrar: Baha Jubeh. Collections Registrar Assistant: Bara Bawatneh. Public Programme Coordinator: Raneen Kiresh. Programmes and Research Officer: Marah Khalifeh. Education Programme Senior Assistant: Safaa Helan. Media and Public Relations Coordinator: Haneen Saleh. Publications Manager: Hala Shrouf. Copy Editor and Translator: Shayma Nader. Photography: Ahmad Sandouka and Faris Shomali.

Curated by Tina Sherwell