Art has long served as a powerful medium for societal transformation, providing creative spaces to celebrate beauty or confront its harsh realities, reflect on challenging times, and even act as an unprecedented form of resistance. In this spirit, Alserkal Art Week returns with a poignant theme, dedicating its focus to rejoicing in the beauty of Gaza. Scheduled to run from Nov. 19 to 26, this year’s week-long showcase explores the thematic richness of Gaza in light of the ongoing horrifying genocide the occupied strip has been facing for the past 40-days. Functioning as a communal platform for informed discourse on Palestine, particularly Gaza, the event will present exhibits and discussions that traverse Palestine’s past, present, and a collective envisioning of a possible future.
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The flagship exhibition, On This Land, commencing on Nov. 19, originated from the Birzeit-based Palestinian Museum, which had initially planned a show on the cultural legacy of Gaza. A collaborative effort between The Palestinian Museum, Barjeel Art Foundation, and Alserkal Arts Foundation, the exhibit will run daily from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. at Alserkal’s Concrete gallery throughout the week, where daily exhibition tours will be conducted at 3:30 p.m.
The exhibition’s description reads: “This unrehearsed dialogue between modern and contemporary art and photographic archives has a dual intent. First, to create a space for informed contemplation: visitors access an unexpected window onto Gaza, prompted to imagine a possible future through the prism of a past made manifest. Second, ‘On This Land’ harnesses the power of spontaneous collaboration not only to protect what is being silenced but to generate a triangulated and amplified response.”
The overarching theme for this year’s art week is “Fierce Grace,” concept coined by long-term collaborator and Protocinema founder Mari Spirito, referring to new knowledge gained through hardship.
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More than 15 new gallery exhibitions are opening for the Art Week, including a solo show by Afra Al Dhaheri at Green Art Gallery, works by Nima Nabavi and Jason Seife at The Third Line Gallery, and a group show focused on environmental issues at Gazelli Art House.
Furthermore, Alserkal’s Cinema Akil will host two screenings of films with Palestinian narratives. Farha tells the true story of the forced evacuation of Palestinians by nationalist militia from their homes in 1948, also known as the Nakba, an Arabic term for the ethnic cleansing and displacement of about 800,000 Palestinians, which eventually led to the creation of the apartheid state of Israel. Gaza Mon Amour, also inspired by a true story from 2014 Gaza, explores the life of a sixty-year-old fisherman secretly in love with Siham, a woman working as a dressmaker at the market.
Farha will be screened on Monday, Nov. 20, at 9:00 p.m. in The Yard, and Gaza Mon Amour on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m.
