Meet Momo

Without a doubt, my favourite creation yet:

What Has Happened to You People?

I am feeling slightly uncomfortable doing this project. Not least because I'm aware that I could get politically way out of my depth.

I've been really enjoying (if that's the right word) watching The Promise on C4 which is fascinating regarding learning the history of the birth Israel. But it is awful how it seems that out of such bloody beginnings has grown such a strife-ridden land.

And I must, at this point, say that I do understand how and why the Jewish people became so militant and determined that what happened in the Holocaust would never happen again and that they must  create a safe home for themselves (sadly not yet achieved).

I visited Auschwitz last summer and then read up on it and so do have complete sympathy in that regard. Part of what struck me was that there was so little resistance across Europe (again I trust that is right). One of the few incidents I read about was, I think, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Again I don't pretend to know the history well enough, I'm just mentioning it because it does provide background for what happened next.

But Israel at the expense of the Palestinians. That can't be right either.

 So, I've had lots of ideas of what I might do, and have written my statement of intent. Which I might as well reproduce here:

Title:           The Politics of Hummus :  A Domestic Crisis in a Divided Land

I propose to look at the history of Palestine and Israel and the fate of its communities since Division in 1948.

I want to look at it on very much a domestic scale, from the point of view of Palestinian citizens living in Israel; exploring ideas of hardship and discrimination experienced by a community who total 1/5th of the population.

I don’t intend it to be a strident, political war cry against Israeli expansionism. (I don’t have nearly enough knowledge to presume or want to do that). But, on a small, gentle scale, I want to try and evoke some understanding of what it must be like, trying to live a simple life with so many daily complications.

Influences, Starting Points and Contextual References:

My fascination began when I read the hugely inspiring I Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin Abuelaish. A Palestinian physician, born in the Gaza Strip, he trained in Israel and believes medicine can help bridge a peaceful resolution.

Next came John MacCarthy’s You Can’t Hide the Sun: a brilliant summary of the domestic situation since 1948. I’ve also just watched ‘The Promise’ a C4 drama about the situation.

Finally, as I’m looking at this from a very domestic angle, I’m looking at two cookbooks, written by Israeil and Palestinian chefs who together own Ottolenghi in London. Their most recent publication is called Jerusalem.

In terms of artists, Banksy famously graffitied there in 2005 and a year earlier Paula Cox worked as Artist in Residence in Palestine. I’m also looking at the work of local Arab artists, other protest artists and will attend exhibitions, including Light from The Middle East: contemporary photography at the V&A.

Anticipated Techniques, Media and Processes

Initially I will explore ideas using sketches, cardboard, slip cast porcelain, ready-made model making materials and textiles.

Wanting an overall cohesiveness in this project, I plan to work in monochrome, two-tone or white on white. This, I feel, will fit well with the non-strident, domestic approach I wish to take.

I am interested in exploring ideas of layering (as in archeological layers of land); fragility (of life and lifestyles); change over decades (the constant flux between Jews and Palestinians over generations) and symbols of oppression: particularly tree planting.

Equally interesting are methods of persuasion. For instance, is humour or pathos more effective. And propaganda currently within the media.

There’s the possibility of filmed interviews and/or photographs. Sherborne has a local Pro-Palestinian group I plan to contact, as well as talking to other Israeli/Palestinian people I know.

Timescales will have to be planned carefully, especially if I want to slip cast domestic items, as moulds for each will take about two weeks to create. Working in cardboard and papier mache will be quicker, and if I paint on cardboard I will use acrylic paints.

Proposed Method of Evaluation:

If I manage to give my audience a brief understanding and sense of empathy with the suffering of situation then I will be pleased. If I can encourage anyone to explore further, that would be even better.

I will invite known pro-Palestinian supporters to the exhibition and ask for their responses. I’ll also leave a comments book to glean a more general response. My blog also elicits comments along the way, which I’ll write up in my sketchbook. 

And My Thoughts After Writing My Statement:

To create a domestic installation that looks like a room, except that nothing is quite what you'd expect. The domestic objects (a child's shoe; a tagine; a saucepan) are slipcast porcelain with trees planted in them. A painting on the wall is actually done in cardboard. A chair (or blanket) is embroidered with statements. A backgammon board is again covered in trees. Postcards with people's faces drawn on them and short histories on the other side.

That's my thoughts so far.

Duncan says: keep the message clear. Don't try and create too many things.

And I think that keeping to a palette of white, green and brown will help with this.

I would also love to have voice recordings of people talking about their experiences. I'm not sure how I'd achieve this. But it's something I'm going to work on.

I'd also like the top of the 'room' to be covered in netting with objects suspended on it. I'm not quite sure of my facts, but I know there's a key alleyway in Jerusalem where this happens. Again: more research.

So, it's uncomfortable, it's taking me a long way out of my comfort zone (which is about as non- political as you can get).

Remember, this is the girl who once voted Conservative because she read an interview with John Major in Hello magazine. Sorry Dad.

But it's a good message to care about, a worthy subject on which to try and educate and well worth the discomfort I think.

PS: Sometimes I really worry about myself. There I was, thinking about voice recordings on the way home, and getting so excited about it that I was even planning to write John McCarthy no less and ask if he had any recordings I could borrow. (OK, I knew that was a long shot.) But You Tubing 'people speaking about Palestine' just now, I suddenly realised. They'd nearly all be speaking Arabic anyway. What a numpty!

Practice Makes

Positive progress from the beginning of term.

I still don't like my drawings. Particularly my cross hatching, which I will never be able to do as neatly as Duncan and Chris. But yes, I am getting a bit better.

Really, if you want to improve your drawing skills, doing scores of studies of naked people is really the way to go (note that Min and Mum).

A Trip to The Saatchi and Tate Modern

Apart from it taking more than six hours to get back from London on Friday night, we had a fantastic trip. It is interesting that when you visit galleries with a project in mind, you do get so much inspiration.

Fits in the 'domestic' and 'food as unifier' angles of my project. Could I bottle things? 

 I loved the fact that these monumental landscapes were done on cardboard. Jerusalem would look great done like this.

This reminded me of my white palette idea

    This made me think of the 'suspension' (neither on land nor in the sky) quote 

This made me think of the wall dividing the two communities. I like the way words have been scratched into the plaster.

 I just liked this painting

 This made me think of using organic materials, hessian, sacking etc to represent the new and the old

I loved the impasto effect of this work. (And I did think that I was glad that I'd done the painting project as I do understand a bit more about the techniques of what I see now).

These installations were interesting and made me think of how to show destroyed homes. (Although I was a bit embarrassed that I believe the story!)

 

This work made me think of how I don't want how I represent my messages to be strident: far softer, more domestic

 This I thought was interesting in terms of the suspended between heaven and earth idea again

Below has nothing to do with my project but I just wanted to record what I felt was one of the most effecting evocations of a destroyed society ever. The photos were really shocking, the people having pretty much lost all essence of humanity.

 I didn't much 'get' the Lichtenstein exhibition. I know it's about parody and irony, but it didn't really do it for me. However, this did give me the start of an idea which I will follow through. So that's good.

It was great seeing the actual hand-paintedness of his work, which always looks printed in books.

 Again, this linked in with me thinking about natural textures.

And this gave me the idea of strapping an old suitcase to the front of a map or photo or something.