How do humans navigate the world when their connection to their homeland is severed? How can they reconcile with their roots and rediscover who they are without our land? These questions have long occupied the Arab psyche, particularly across the Levant, and have taken on renewed urgency since October last year.
“This work expresses feelings of sadness each Palestinian person feels,” renowned contemporary Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour tells The National. “Every person went through humiliation, insult and loss during this never-ending occupation. It is not easy to be born a Palestinian, and I was trying to express that feeling.”
Sliman is speaking about his seminal 1972 oil on canvas painting Sad Tunes, on display with four other works as part of Tabari Artspace’s group exhibition Routes to Roots at the ongoing Abu Dhabi Art.
The painting depicts two women wearing traditional Palestinian embroidered dresses (a common theme in Mansour’s work) playing music, one with a hand drum and the other with a flute. The image is powerfully rooted in the narratives and symbols of the Palestinian struggle.
It’s part of Mansour’s oeuvre as an influential central figure in the Palestinian artistic movement in which he has been active since the 1970s and where he has created some of the most recognisable and significant symbols of Palestinian resistance and identity.
“I reflect on the Palestinian people’s emotional condition through my art,” he adds. “People lament and fear the future, yet they are proud and optimistic. They are confident because every Palestinian is confident about the correctness of their cause. They are proud because they have a long and beautiful history in Palestine that appears in agriculture, architecture, costumes, and folk art.”
Mansour channels these emotions and cultural elements through his art, as do seven other artists from the Levant featured in this impactful showcase by Tabari Artspace.
Land and belonging, cultural identity and connection – these narratives are explored through the very personal, but branch out into the universal in Routes to Roots, showcasing the multidisciplinary work of diverse artists from the Levant, across generations who are grappling with these fundamental, pertinent themes.
“Routes to Roots is about storytelling and preservation,” says Maliha Tabari, founder of Tabari Artspace and curator of the exhibition. “It is an active effort to ensure that future generations can encounter and engage with the positive and abundant heritage of the Levant.”
The exhibition also includes the works of Palestinian artists Samah Shihadi, Michael Halak and Hazem Harb, whose art delves into the various facets of Palestinian identity.
Shihadi’s hyperrealist drawings of the landscape, vegetation and ruins of Palestinian villages are technically mind-blowing but also serve as quiet yet evocative images of what has happened, what remains and what is next.
Halak’s paintings are observations of his immediate surroundings that explore the connections and tensions between beauty and disruption, belonging and estrangement through depictions of fruits such as olives, oranges and figs from Palestine.
Last year, Harb had a powerful solo presentation at Tabari Artspace’s "Dystopia is not a Noun" booth at the festival, where he expressed his reaction to the violence that was happening to his native Gaza. He has created a new body of work this year.
Across four colossal pieces, Harb examines and reframes his homeland’s past within the context of the present. In one work, Stitching Unity, he employs a contemporary collage combining the rich, diverse medium of traditional Palestinian embroidery, using styles from various Palestinian villages.
“In recent years, we’ve all witnessed the heartbreaking devastation across the Levant,” Tabari adds. “This loss is felt and lived by the artists we collaborate with. Yet, these artists also remember a counterpoint: the cultural richness, the enduring traditions, the vibrant natural and built landscapes, and the communal practices that define this region.”
This sentiment is also prevalent in the works of the four other artists featured in the exhibition: Lebanese artists Aya Haidar, Chafa Ghaddar and Tagreed Darghouth as well as Randa Maddah, a Syrian artist from the occupied Golan Heights.
Darghouth’s expressive and evocative paintings of pine trees, a symbol of Lebanon’s cultural identity, act as a self-portrait and an emblem of collective identity. Maddah’s surreal and delicate work explores themes of liberation and reincarnation that are rooted in the nature of her village in the Golan Heights. Ghaddar also works with the concept of nature and the landscape in her contemporary frescos, which examine the fragility of the human condition through her process and people’s relationship with the land.
Meanwhile, Haidar presents a uniquely delightful and resounding installation called Rooted. The work is a beautifully embroidered cushion created using a technique called punch embroidery. The cushion is stuffed with zaatar, the Levantine culinary herb, to create a multi-sensory experience.
The scent evokes a sense of home and notions of communal dining, practices around regional produce and “a celebration of our deep connection to the land – an unwavering bond that persists". Haider adds: “I want viewers to leave with a sense of hope and determination.
“This work is not about mourning what we have lost but about celebrating our deep, steadfast roots. It’s a message that despite the violence and attempts to uproot us, our bond with the land is unbreakable. We are firmly rooted, and we will continue to embrace our heritage and identity.”
Abu Dhabi Art runs at Manarat Al Saadiyat until Sunday
