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 final conversation of The Ramallah Club Network, Reem Shilleh and Samah Hijawi speak to Dr. Kathy Zarur, a curator and educator based in San Francisco, who explores concepts around place and landscape both as artistic genre and as lived experience of diasporic communities. By focusing on two exhibitions that Zarur has co-curated, Where is Here and Betweenscapes, they reflect on the nuances between the conditions of being in diaspora and exile, and how these frame the experiences of being away from the homeland. They also talk about what the social fabric of the United States offers in parallel experiences between the indigenous and diasporic communities, whose kaleidoscope identities complexifies their relation to place.
FR - Pour ce dernier épisode de The Ramallah Club Network Reem Shilleh et Samah Hijawi s’entretiennent avec la Doctoresse Kathy Zarur, curatrice et enseignante à San Francisco. Elle travaille à partir de concepts abordant l’espace et le paysage, autant comme pratique artistique que comme expérience vécue des communautés diasporiques. En se concentrant sur deux expositions montées par Kathy Zarur, Where is Here et Betweenscapes, elles explorent ensemble les différences entre l’exil et la diaspora et témoignent en quoi ces expériences déterminent le ressenti des personnes vivant loin de chez elles. Elles évoquent également le contexte social aux États-Unis qui génère des conditions de vie similaires au sein des communautés indigènes et diasporiques, leurs identités kaléidoscopiques complexifiant leur relation à leur lieu de vie.
NL - In de laatste conversatie van The Ramallah Club Network, gaan Reem Shilleh en Samah Hijawi in gesprek met Dr. Kathy Zarur, curatrice en pedagoge, gevestigd in San Francisco. Zij onderzoekt concepten die verbonden zijn met plaats en landschap, beide als artistiek genre en als levenservaring van gemeenschappen in diaspora. De tentoonstellingen Where is Here en Betweenscapes die Zarur co-cureerde dienen als uitgangspunt voor het gesprek dat reflecteert op nuances tussen de omstandigheden van het leven in diaspora en ballingschap en hoe deze de ervaringen het weg zijn van het thuisland bepalen. Ze hebben het daarnaast over het sociale weefsel van de Verenigde Staten en de parallelle ervaringen tussen die van de autochtone bevolking en die van diaspora gemeenschappen. De caleidoscopische identiteiten van deze gemeenschappen maken hun relatie tot plaatsgebondenheid complexer.
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/
