Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh took the Ramallah Clubs Network (of the Palestinian diaspora in the USA) as a starting point to reflect on the intricacies and complexities of the Palestinian diaspora and their manifestations. They will explore the experience of being in diaspora and exile and how this formulates one’s relationship to home and homeland. Often, members of the diaspora reconnect through community centres, festivals and events in order to continue their cultural practices, and keep the community connected. But beyond sharing food, dance and conversation, what intangible elements do these gatherings transmit? What are the other forms and tools that are used to understand this convoluted relationship between here and there? In the face of Palestine’s settler colonial reality how have they contributed to direct and indirect forms of resistance, narrative formations and acts of remembering?

In a series of conversations broadcast online on Radio Al Hara every Thursday of the month of October, Hijawi and Shilleh will be speaking with colleagues, artists, filmmakers, social activists, and friends from different geographies, whose work is connected to or influenced by their diasporic/exilic experience and desire to reconnect.

EN - In the third episode of The Ramallah Club Network, Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh are in conversation with the artist Basma Alsharif about their earliest memories and how shifting locations influences their invocation; about distance and image, and about Basma Alsharif's video and writing works, Gaza, metaphors and much more.

FR - Pour le troisième épisode de The Ramallah Club Network, Samah Hijawi et Reem Shilleh rencontrent l’artiste Basma Alsharif. Ensemble, elles évoquent leurs tous premiers souvenirs et s’interrogent sur l'influence que peut avoir la déterritorialisation sur leur évocation. Il est question d’image et de distance, du travail vidéographique et d’écriture de Basma Alsharif, de Gaza, de métaphores et de bien d’autres choses.

NL - In de derde aflevering van The Ramallah Club Network gaan Samah Hijawi en Reem Shilleh in gesprek met de kunstenares Basma Alsharif en samen hebben ze het over hun vroegste herinneringen en hoe verschuivende locaties hun aanroeping beïnvloeden; over afstand en beeld, en over Basma Alsharif's video- en schrijfwerk, Gaza, metaforen en nog veel meer. 

A project by Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh, initiated and coproduced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2020 in the context of The Diasporic Schools / Production: Kunstenwerkplaats

More info: https://kfda.be/en/festivals/2020-edition/programme/the-ramallah-club-network/