By Susan Wallner
Zeina Barakeh is a Palestinian-Lebanese artist who addresses politics directly but with an almost comic touch. Barakeh now lives in San Francisco. She says that when she moved to America, the distance showed her how she had been formed by the daily experience of violence growing up in Beirut. She works in a variety of media now, including video animation. Two of these are on display at Princeton University’s Bernstein Gallery through October 19. Each is an animated tale that puts an imaginative twist on historical events. For instance, in “Scenarios of Return,” an avatar representing Barakeh revisits Jaffa in Palestine (where her father was born) to fight the British and reverse history.
Judith Brodsky, co-curator of the Fertile Crescent, says that many women artists from the Middle East, “start out in one country, then go to another country, perhaps they go to a third country; they’re moving back and forth not only geographically but conceptually, between maybe a traditional, religious background and secularism.” In fact, many of the pieces featured in the Fertile Crescent exhibitions aim to make connections between opposites, drawing lines between the personal and the political.
The idea for The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art, and Society began five years ago when co-curator Ferris Olin visited the Istanbul Biennial, and saw exciting work by artists she did not know. Olin and Brodsky, co-directors of the Institute for Women in Art, began to plan the series of exhibitions and events that is now in full swing. “I hope that people coming to the shows will have their eyes opened about art in general, art made by women and art made by women from the Middle East,” says Olin, “the work certainly has changed since we started selecting work five years ago because of current events.” These events include, of course, the Arab Spring. In fact, some artists were only able to be included on the Fertile Crescent’s website, because of the difficulty of shipping art from countries such as Syria and Egypt.
WATCH VIDEO:
Artists Sigalit Landau (Israel) and Zeina Barakeh (Palestine/Lebanon) introduce their videos.
Fertile Crescent exhibitions, lectures, performances, film screenings, and concerts are taking place at venues in New Brunswick and Princeton, New Jersey, through January 2013. Visit fertile-crescent.org for a full calendar of events, and for images and biographies of the artists.
Look for an in-depth story featuring more artists from the Fertile Crescent exhibitions on the Sunday, October 21st episode of State of the Arts.
Susan Wallner is an award-winning producer with PCK Media. She is a long-time contributor to State of the Arts, airing on NJTV Sundays at 8 pm. Follow her on Twitter @SusanPCK.