Jerusalem24 – The holy land just as prophet Moses saw it is beautiful and attractive as a gift from the skies, yet Palestine today is not seen from the tall mountains but rather seen from installed colonial surveillance cameras. In today’s episode, Yazeed Anani, the director of the public program in the A.M Qattan Foundation and a member of the “Palestine from Above” exhibition committee joined us to discuss the creation of the exhibition. Palestine from Above clearly distinguishes two approaches; The colonial gaze from the sky and how people of the land look at colonialism but from their own practices, and perspectives. He explains how the preparation process of the exhibition took a long period of research that exceeded the exhibition as well as a collective effort from so many researchers from different countries around the world. Also, the collection of the exhibition material took around a year and a half to document different colonial regimes. Yet, the used artwork is just a tool to subjugate and criticize this material that has been collected. In addition, Jerusalem quarterly with its two editions has been published as a reference to the exhibition. Yet, the main message of Palestine from above is to show that culture and art are the only domain we have to create a narration. They are used as portals to open up spaces for imagination rather than one response to what the occupation really is. Alongside their conformational role. Anani believes that instead of politics and economy, art and culture are what lead our future. After all, the exhibition is just part of the whole series of practices that happen in Palestine.
