Freedom

Description

Artist Notes

My journey began in 1999, when I was just seventeen years old, and I crossed the border into Egypt via the Rafah crossing. I had purchased a ticket to cross the border, but I was held up for over twelve hours on the floor, waiting for permission to enter Egypt. Travel had always been my dream, but that day, the shocks and trauma I experienced made me rethink what 'Freedom' truly means. This work is a series of fragmented journeys that spanned from 2001 to 2018. The tickets, stamped boarding passes, and destinations I've collected represent restrictions, movement, waiting, airports, and crossings. Each ticket is a memory and a wound – whether I was allowed to travel, denied, questioned, restricted, or never had the chance to use it. By bringing them together, I let them speak and transform them into a work of resistance, questioning the very idea of freedom. You can read the word “Freedom' and think it represents genuine freedom of movement, but I sometimes see it differently: 'What is freedom?' This work is a philosophical exploration between borders, borderless existence, freedom, exile, and dignity.

Preservation Notes

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION An anthology of original airline boarding passes, tickets, baggage tags, and customs declarations, sequenced and adhered across the support, with hand-painted passages in deep burgundy and a calligraphic Arabic rendering of the word "Freedom" running across the collaged documents. Multiple carriers are represented; MEA (Middle East Airlines) is legible. Tickets span roughly 2001 to 2018, making them approximately 8 to 25 years old as of 2026. Adhesion is by biodegradable polymer adhesive. NOTE ON SUPPORT: The Medium field and the artwork description both state canvas. Visual assessment of the archival image suggests a cream paper or card backing visible between the collaged elements. This discrepancy must be resolved by physical examination, because paper and canvas supports require materially different conservation treatment. CONDITION (assessed 2026-09-09 from the low-resolution derivative then held in this record; requires physical confirmation) - Foxing and age-related discoloration are visible across the cream document areas, consistent with acidic paper degradation. - Slight cockling of the paper substrate, most apparent toward the edges. - Lifting edges on several collaged tickets at corners and overlap points. These should be consolidated before any handling, transport, or framing. - Painted passages appear stably adhered with no visible lifting or flaking. - Overall matte finish with uneven sheen; the surface appears uncoated or only lightly sealed. Assessment: stable but actively at risk. The work is built from acidic commercial paper stock never intended to last, so deterioration will continue without intervention. NOTE: The above observations were made from a 768 x 590 pixel file. The full-resolution TIFF master is now held in this record and supports a far more reliable reading. This condition assessment should be repeated against the master, which will resolve whether the cockling, lifting edges, and foxing are as recorded and will allow individual tickets to be read and catalogued. CONSERVATION REQUIREMENTS Requires preservation framing with encapsulation and controlled environmental protection from light, moisture, and oxygen. Deacidification should be evaluated by a paper conservator, weighing the risk to the printed inks and painted passages. UV-filtering glazing is essential. Store and display flat; do not roll. Do not dry-mount and do not use pressure-sensitive tape. Stabilize the lifting ticket edges before framing. DIGITAL RECORD The original capture was scanned in Sweden as a TIFF master in high, medium, and low resolution variants. The medium and low resolution variants are held outside this archive. CURRENT ASSET: TIFF master, 6501 x 4600 pixels, 85.6 MB. Filename Freedom-Alijila-FullRes.tif. Uploaded 2026-09-09. This record now holds the full-resolution TIFF master, uploaded without conversion. It replaces the previous derivative (PNG, 768 x 590 pixels), which carried roughly one seventieth of the pixel information of the master and was rejected as unfit for reproduction or detailed study. Effective scan resolution: approximately 385 DPI measured against the recorded physical dimensions of 43 x 30 cm, above the 300 DPI archival standard. The image aspect matches the recorded landscape orientation. Maximum reproduction size at 300 DPI: 21.7 x 15.3 inches. At 200 DPI, suitable for viewing at distance, it will carry 32.5 x 23.0 inches.

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