Stitching Keffiyehs: Moving Images from Palestine was an exhibit of contemporary film and video art by renowned artists from Palestine and the Palestinian diaspora. These uncompromising artworks, spanning from 1987 to 2022, are poetic evocations of dispossession and discrimination, presenting glimpses of the day-to-day struggles of people living under Israeli occupation. Despite the temporal distance from the current suffering in Gaza, these moving images offer opportunities to historicize and to reflect on themes such as exile, war, perpetual statelessness, and the appropriation of knowledge and resources. Moreover, the artists in the exhibition portray the rich tapestry of Palestinian culture and experience, including alternate feminist visions, re-centered mythologies, and dreams of technological futures that were empowered and liberatory.
Stitching Keffiyehs: Moving Images from Palestine was curated by Tamar Beja, Asma Kazmi, and Gazelle Samizay. The exhibition was made possible by generous support from the Arab Film and Media Institute, San Francisco; Center for Middle Eastern Studies; MENA@History of Art; Berkeley Center for New Media; Middle Eastern Language and Cultures; Arts Research Center; African American Studies & African Diaspora Studies; and the Department of Gender & Women’s Studies.
Special thanks to the student interns of the Worth Ryder Art Gallery for their energy, dedication, and skill in installing this show. We were also grateful to the staff and faculty of the Art Practice Department for their support in bringing this project to fruition so we could stand in solidarity with those who continued to fight for freedom and dignity.
--Asma Kazmi
Artists included: Razan AlSalah, Zeina Barakeh, Mona Rouhana Benyamin, Samia Halaby, Mona Hatoum, Jumana Manna, Larissa Sansour, and Oraib Touka.
