A project by Rana El-Batrawy and Shareef Sarhan, supported by the A. M. Qattan Foundation as part of Divinations: the art of remembering the future, YAYA 2020, curated by Adania Shibli.
Our life is characterized by instability, primarily a state of fragility — how can we rethink this pattern of existence, given the political ramifications of a common situation where the body tends to reassert itself with and through other bodies that need, want, and depend on each other to survive?
There are three basic elements for each point in the Gaza Valley geography: soil, water, and air. Through a research process of questions, questionnaires, and results, the valley highlights the general shape of Palestine — the earth, the geography, and the being. Water, air, wastewater, insects, plants, garbage, unemployment, occupation, blockade, floods, birds, agriculture: the words that came from the questionnaires emphasize the similarity between this valley and Palestine's past, present and future.
This valley is a microcosm of the change taking place in Palestine across every demographic, geographic, political and environmental dimension affecting the lives of animals, plants and humans living in the area. This intervention is a visual path that explores the nature of the valley as a model running from the sea — the downstream — to the eastern borders, guided by prior research and investigation, asking how art and culture can have a role in making the future.
12 works