محمد جحى

Mohamed Joha

Artist
Statement

How many times are we supposed to rebuild Gaza ? How often are we supposed to
memorize a new geography ? How many new geographies will Gaza “wear” each year?
Nobody knows the answer to these questions, and it›s not even necessary, because these
intuitive questions will find the many possible answers by themselves and raise many
other questions about the reasons of what is happening in Gaza. The imposed, hated
“renewal” is a perpetual story with ongoing wars that affect everyone and everything
alike – human beings, creatures, and things. Every two years, Gaza is forced to take off its
old robe and put on a new architectural dress; the clothes-changing and the adaptation
to it are exhausting and impoverishing Gaza every time more. Instead, it is longing for
stability and continuity on the map. Gaza has become a space that has no routine at
all: when it›s war, it›s difficult to call it war, and living repeatedly through such radical
transformation makes it almost impossible to cope, every time again, with a profoundly
altered geography. The course of the streets, the shape of the houses, everything is
different now. Here was a street surrounding a public park, and there was a hotel next to
a tower, and an apartment building hosting a grocery store on its ground floor. Everything
has changed ! A few years ago, there had also been a hospital, a government department,
an institution, and a branch street open to another street… none of it is left.