The piece encapsulates many of the preoccupations of the late Iranian photographer Bahman Jalali, who, along with his wife, Rana Javadi, is the subject of a wide-ranging show at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. It makes for a nice companion piece to “More Than Your Eyes Can See,” a showcase of 15 Arab photographers at the Middle East Institute Art Gallery, most of whom are also likely to be largely unfamiliar to a U.S. audience.
One piece by East Jerusalem-born Palestinian Rula Halawani— the most established artist in the show — echoes some of Jalali’s and Javadi’s works. At first glance, it appears to be merely a wide-angle view of Jerusalem, showing the separation wall in the foreground and landmarks such as the Dome of the Rock in the distance, seen from just inside the West Bank. But floating eerily in the clouds is a faint, superimposed gray-tone image of a family of six — an archival photo of Palestinians who lived there before 1948.
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