Emily Jacir
From Provisions
About the Artist
"The series of photo essays, Where We Came From, shows the painfully restricted lives of Emily Jacir's Palestinian brethren. Her ethnic memory and much-coveted American passport dictates and motivates her to fulfill the wishes of others who cannot travel. Jacir asks Palestinians from the various diasporas, 'If I could do something for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?' She then carries out their wishes as best as she can. The texts are displayed in English and Arabic along side a photograph. In one piece a Palestinian girl would like her to go back to her hometown of Haifa and play soccer. Emily goes to the town, finds a young boy and plays soccer with him. A photo with her back to us documents her kicking a ball in a cramped urban lot. In another she places flowers on a mother's grave from a son who lives in Bethlehem and is not permitted to go to Jerusalem to pay his respects.
This poignant series brings together all of the social, political, and personal manifestations of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict through the lens of the hearts of ordinary Palestinians and their most basic desires: to eat a piece of sweet kinefi at a favorite deli in Jerusalem, to embrace a mother, or to place flowers on a loved one's grave. This contrasts with what many in the West think Palestinian dreams and wishes may be – to achieve martyrdom and go to paradise, for example. With this large body of work (30 wishes granted) and her genie-like choreography we are propelled to continue reading the next story.
The cumulative effect of these photo essays is powerful; reading each caption, seeing its Arabic partner, studying each exquisitely formed photograph – all build a kind of pressure inside the viewer's psyche. This persistence draws us not to a particular story but to an overall weight of being a witness and merely a fellow human. Through this technique, Jacir has successfully engaged a wide American and European audience, one often reluctant to be drawn into the specifics of the conflict."
--Lenses of Emily Jacir Document Human Reality of Ordinary Palestinians, Doris Bittar, Aljadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts, Winter 2002
"Where We Come From, like much of Jacir's work, concerns the (im)possibility of movement, rather than the plausibility of sitedness. Its locus--Where We Come From--can only be imagined, not physically occupied. It is the forbidden center around which exiles perpetually revolve. Yet, movement too--whether in terms of migration, exchange, travel, or translation--is profoundly troubled in this work, even while often desired."
--Desire in Diaspora, TJ Demos, Art Journal, Winter 2003
"[In]From Paris to Riyadh (Drawings for my Mother)... Reflecting upon a practice her mother did each time they entered Saudi Arabia, Jacir collected Vogue magazines from her childhood years there. Then on vellum paper, she traced the outlines of the models' exposed flesh, creating abstract patterns of the negative space. You could simply interpret these drawings as criticizing a Saudi Arabian law, but for Jacir this practice reflected negatively on both countries. Whereas in one country, 'the image of woman was banned' in the other 'the image of woman is nothing but objectified and co modified,' which left Jacir feeling 'equally repressed in both places.'"
--Exhibiting Politics Jenny Gaith, Electronic Intifiada, November 5, 2004
See also Memories in Exile, Chiara Gelardin, Museo, 2002
More on Occupied Palestine
Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict from If Americans Knew
The land of Palestine was inhabited by Palestinian Arabs. In 1850 these consisted of approximately 400,000 Muslims, 75,000 Christians, and 25,000 Jews. For centuries these groups had lived in harmony: 80 percent Muslim, 15 percent Christian, 5 percent Jewish.
Glimpse of Apartheid, Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 25 January 2007
The Electronic Intifada (EI) is a not-for-profit, independent publication committed to comprehensive public education on the question of Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of Israel's 39-year occupation of Palestinian territories. EI provides a needed supplement to mainstream commercial media representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
