UnionDocs

This lecture performance narrates the process of creating “The Keeper”, a limited edition artist book that tells the story of an encounter with Mustafa, a young street vender in downtown Ramallah, who sells images culled from the Internet to the public.

Mustafa’s family has always worked in the photo business, bringing images from China, Lebanon and Syria into Palestine. Oscillating between her own experience of documenting the city through the images on the streets, and imagining the city from the point of view of the images, the lecture performance draws on various anecdotes and observations to weave a narrative of contemporary Palestinian popular and political history.

Shuruq Harb is a visual artist and writer based in Ramallah, Palestine. Her latest work “The Keeper” is a limited edition artist book on the circulation and distribution of images within the Ramallah city landscape. Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally, A Book of Signatures,a mixed media installation collected 250 signatures from different individuals named Mohammad in Palestine and was exhibited at Ikon Galley, 2010, and Istanbul Biennial 2011, All The Names, a public installation around Ramallah’s street names was part of ‘Wein ala Ramallah’ Festival, 2011. She was a contributing editor to A Prior Magazine’s latest issue Picasso in Palestine, and she the co founder co-founder of ArtTerritories an online publishing platform.

Barrak Alzaid (b. 1985 Kuwait, MA Performance Studies, NYU) is a writer, curator, and artist, and is the Artistic Director of ArteEast. Recent installation and performance work include Seera Kartooniya [Bushwick Open Studios, 2010] and Diwaniya with Fatima Al Qadiri and Aziz Alqatami [Gwangju Design Biennial 2011]. Curatorial work includes antinormanybody [Kleio Projects, 2011]. His article, “Fatwas and Fags: Violence and the Discursive Production of Abject Bodies” is available in The Columbia Journal of Gender and Law.

PRESENTED WITH:

ArteEast presents the works of contemporary artists from the Middle East, North Africa and their diasporas t a wide audience in order to foster a more complex understanding of the regions’ arts and cultures and to encourage artistic excellence. Through public events, exhibitions, film screenings, a dynamic virtual gallery and a resource-rich website, ArteEast supports artists and filmmakers by providing the platforms necessary for them to showcase groundbreaking and significant work. We also give the public the opportunity to learn more about and develop an appreciation for the talent of these established and emerging artists.