Cemetery of Martyrs, 2021

Commissioned and shown at VO Curations in London, uk.

There are more than 5.6 million Palestinians worldwide, forming the longest generational and perpetual refugee population. All of whom have not been granted the right of return to their ancestral homes. 500,000 of which reside in Lebanon a mere 2 hours away from their homes never able to go back. This installation attempts to circumvent this barrier by using the white cube as a zone where the works can remain in transit on their way to Haifa, using the late Ghassan Kanafani as the protagonist . Commissioned by VO Curations in London, these rubbings were sent to Haifa, from London, as a way to bypass the barricade of transference from Beirut to Haifa.

“Do you know what homeland is? It is where nothing like this happens.” —Ghassan Kanafani, Returning to Haifa (1969)

These rubbings of the martyred Ghassan Kanafani’s grave were made on July 1th 2021, almost 49 years since he was assassinated alongside his niece, Lamis, in Beirut, Lebanon by the Mossad.