Curated by Aya Haidar, RCD>PLY>RWD>FFWD>STOP>EJ is based around the recording of the present as a reference for the future. Looking at the recent and current trends that have swept the Middle East, a combination of ongoing tensions as well as a boom in development have led to an urban landscape that is changing at a rapid pace. In the process, history and local heritage is under threat and identities are in a constant state of flux. As the wider geopolitics are determined from above, another layer of history is being made. The artists from the region seek to reflect the actual realities of those who live and struggle to maintain them. They represent the everyday and question preconceptions and misconceptions of an otherwise preconceived and misunderstood region.
Three of Khaled Jarrar’s works will be featured in the exhibition, including Olive Tree Branch, a sculpture partially created from reconstituted concrete taken from the separation wall in his native Palestine. This powerful work takes the traditional significance of the olive tree as a symbol of peace, resistance, life and growth and contrasts it with the dead concrete.
14 October – 22 November 2014