Artist Statement

For me, there is no doubt that the Palestinian component of my identity feeds my art with unique aspects, where the narratives, stories, history, and beauty of the place and time can be observed through my art.

Yet, as I reflect on my political and social "responsibilities" as a human being, the influence of my Palestinian identity on shaping my Art language is becoming a challenging question. It seems that:

... In order to be against occupation I need not be a Palestinian.

...In order to oppose looting killing and injustice I need not be a Palestinian.

...In order to strive for a society in which all human rights are available and accessible for all citizens I should not be a Palestinian

So my Palestinian identity is not an necessary and sufficient condition to the social and political statements reflected in my art.   

I believe that basic values inherited through the history of humanity and rejecting all kinds of discrimination and inequality, are necessary conditions for such wider political and social understanding. These basic values are not dependent on identities, especially not on religion, nationality, ethnic and gender- limited aspects of identity. Such values brought together, and continually do so, all humans on this planet.

I dream about better reality. I look forward to end the controlling paradigm shaped by power manipulations and different forms of authoritarianism... So for me life is about searching while deconstructing and constructing the space... perhaps a new space... I do dream about better reality...

Behind the Art

In this context, since I started, my art work has been concerned with the physical and metaphorical nature of the space...

My instillations emerge in the existing space while searching for new structures to shape new space inside the existing one... I struggle with the emerging structures, cracking the walls, digging holes and over coming obstacles in search for a breath... perhaps new form... 

I use daily, basic simple materials such as pantyhose, wool threads and hair pins to form my works. By these materials I touch the space... change it... shape it with new frames... forming it with new context... 

I construct my works; yet, at the end it will be deconstructed, as it has never existed...

As Hanna Kofler, an exhibition curator, said: "these works are like that rose with the perfect beauty, while it reaches the peak of its bloom it just hints at the approaching death"

Manar Zuabi

 6.12.2010