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Silwan Hoard – Abasi Family, 2010
Helen De Main
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The bronze objects presented here are replicas of objects collected by the artist from the remains of the Abasi family home in Silwan, which was demolished by the Jerusalem municipality in March 2009. With permission from, and assistance by members of the family, she selected fragments of objects that once formed the outer construction of their home.
These objects have then undergone a variety of processes involved in re-casting them in bronze, using the lost wax technique that has been employed in the making of bronzes since antiquity. The original materials used in the building have been elevated in status through their transformation into bronze – imbuing them with a sense of monumentality and inherent cultural worth and at the same time making them materially very hard to destroy.
The artist spent time researching in different areas of Silwan, where the Palestinian population are living and in the archaeological site of the ‘City of David’ and observing the different narratives being placed upon two sites that are situated so close together, from a contemporary and historic perspective.
The work plays with the hierarchies of objects within these contexts, referencing cultural artefacts and museum like displays, and uses these objects to think about ideas of permanency, stability and claims to land.
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Size : Dimensions Variable
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Material : Bronze, MDF, paint
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Location : Alhoash Gallery
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Date of work : 2010
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