New Work!

These are my new handmade books. They contain pinhole photos of Jerusalem, paintings of birds and plants native to Palestine, and Palestinian poetry. They’re put together using materials found in garbage bins, in a style that owes a lot to the punk rock scene that I grew up with, as well as Russian Futurism. I’ve no idea if they’ll ever be exhibited so I’d like to give you a thorough look here, and whilst I do I’ll say a bit more about them. First comes a video, then a transcript of the video, and still photos. 

The pinholes were taken using a simple wooden box that had no film, viewfinder, or lens. The prints I’ve used in these books come from another publication I’d made in 2006 called ‘A Velvet Silence’, that contained pinholes and diary entries of a journey I’d taken to Egypt, Palestine, and Israel. A couple of months ago I was re-reading it with updated insight. I thought the writing was garbage and wanted to repurpose the book in some way. The pinholes had merit so I cut them out, disposed of the writing, and put the images aside, thinking I’d use them in something else soon.

At about the same time I read an article about birdwatching in Gaza, it explained how these twin sisters had spotted over 160 species of birds there in 2022. It got me interested in learning more about the natural environment of Palestine. What a fascinating place; so many beautiful birds, so many flowers!

The more I learnt the more I felt that this Israeli aggression wasn’t just a genocide against Palestinians but against nature, too. As well as civilians being murdered, and homes, hospitals and schools bombed, the birds nesting and feeding grounds have all been destroyed as well.

I thought I might help Palestine somehow by bringing attention to the wonderful birdlife, so I salvaged some paper and card from a nearby commercial garbage bin, folded and stapled it into booklets, and began painting the birds. Around them I stuck my pinholes, and transcribed poems and quotes by prominent Palestinian authors.

I believe that we humans have a natural range of emotions, with grief and deep sadness, at one extreme, and excitability, outrage, and 'flight or fight' at the other. The media tries to keep us at the extremes in order to maintain our attention so it can sell us stuff and keep us arguing among ourselves instead of joining together to make life genuinely better for all life forms, but I don't think it's mentally healthy to remain long in a state of extreme emotion. But what else can we feel when we see what's happening in Palestine but grief and outrage!!! I didn't want to spend my day giving the media what it desires, but at the same time I wanted to honor the culture of Palestine and perhaps help the people somehow, so painting birds and immersing myself in their poetry seemed one very imperfect way of doing that. 

The images that appear underneath the stapled poems relate to the poem itself. 

The use of materials not usually associated with the forces of oppression was inspired by the cultural theories of Theodore Adorno. If we use the language and materials of the oppressors, he suggested, how can we expect to be seen as different from them? Not an easy question for any artist to answer, but we should at least consider it. 

The see-through pages concept was inspired by Russian Futurist booklets from the early part of last century. The double, triple, even quadruple layers of meaning in those booklets and the work of Velimir Khlebnikov appeal to me immensely.

Finally, the use of whatever I had available and varied font size using pens ranging from marker to my fathers 50 year old Parker pen loaded with hand pressed walnut ink, was also inspired by the Cuban small publisher Ediciones Vigía, and specifically its chief artist Rolando Estévez.

Thanks so much for looking at this mini exhibition. Enquires via email please, all profits will go to animal welfare/vegan NGO's working in Palestine. 

The front covers show 4 plants that are important to Palestine - the Poppy,
the Jaffa Orange, the 'Sabar' Cactus, and the Handala.