HomoSacer
1984 - Present
Description
Inside a glass jar, a real passport issued by the Palestinian Authority is sealed. Typically, a passport grants freedom of movement and recognition, but in this piece, it's transformed into an object preserved, sealed, and silenced within a tightly sealed jar. The artist owns this passport, which was issued in the late 1990s as a teenager, and the jar, also from Gaza, was brought to Europe filled with zaatar. The glass jar can be seen as both protecting and imprisoning the identity. Through this artwork, Abdalhadi explores the paradox of belonging and identity, as well as how a passport can define one's self.
Artist Notes
This installation explores several paradoxical phenomena that reveal the fragility of identity, which is reduced to documents and visas, as well as the longing for freedom. Since the passport is real, issued by the Palestinian Authority after the Oslo Accord, and the jar is also from Gaza, it can be seen as if the Oslo Accord has imprisoned a whole generation. The passports, which usually grant a person the right and freedom to move, confirming their existence, have become a relic trapped in glass – yet visible and untouchable. It denied access and movement, making it seem unworthy. This work questions how political entities decide and control entire lives and their futures within the framework of bureaucracy, but also through symbols and memory, belonging and identity. The work also has another side, reflecting that identities after leaving home countries can become complex questions. This work can raise a few questions, but most importantly, it asks if identity is something we carry, take, seal, or put on display.
Preservation Notes
This is an installation piece which contains a Palestinian Authority mandated passport, which is not recognized by the global powers as a verified document that shows the Artist exists as a Palestinian from Gaza region of Palestine. Israel and the powers that be have conspired to erase the existence of these passports and all evidence of their existence along with the lives they contain on their papers. This Passport is a testimony to a Human Life that has been dehumanized to the furthest extent of a criminal colonial regime class of lawlessness that has still yet to face a world court to answer for their crimes against the dehumanization of Palestinians and genocide they have long ago conspired to commit to the eradication and erasure of Palestine. It is sealed in a simple jar which holds priceless sentimental value to the Artist, as it contained homemade herb called Zatar from his last memories of being home in Gaza. where it was grown and harvested for his travels, in this case. In the context of occupied Palestine, za'atar (wild thyme) is more than just a culinary staple; it is a profound symbol of indigenous identity, heritage, and resistance against erasure.
