In occupied Jerusalem, the “judiasation” of the Palestinian part of the holy city continues and the levels of resistance offered by youth who place life and limb in harm’s way grows by the day. Yet art remains one of the many platforms to make a stand on.
And the Palestinian Art Court, Al Hoash, in Al Zahra Street, housed in an old building in the eastern part of the city, is doing just that.
Al Hoash was established in 2004 by a group of art lovers with the intent of setting up an art museum, a space for workshops for artists and an outreach programme to bring art curriculum to Palestinian schools, as they do not have art as a subject offered to them. Its mission is to provide and sustain a hub for Palestinians to express, realise and strengthen their identity through visual culture. It provides a space for artists to showcase innovative works and it gives the audience an opportunity to acquire knowledge and appreciate the artistic productions of both emerging as well as established artists in Palestine.
Alia Rayyan, the recently appointed director, is a German/Palestinian who studied in Germany and the United Kingdom and like many returning Palestinians is infused with a firm determination to add her institutional knowledge and experience to the resistance, which her fellow countrypersons are involved in daily.
“We seek to connect to international entities, build relationships and in process strengthen our own profile. We do indoor and public space exhibitions, stage permanent exhibitions on Palestinian art in our Collectors’ Room, make artistic interventions in the community by providing educational programmes and our art library, book shop and artistic talks provide a platform for artists in general.”
Rayyan notes with pride that at their most recent event they staged talks with Samia Halabi, a renowned artist and researcher who lives in the United States. “She had encounters with local artists and students from here as well as Palestinians from Haifa. Al Hoash is also a place to connect Palestinians from 1948 and Jerusalemites — it’s a bridge!”
While Rayyan concedes that the audience in [occupied] Jerusalem is small, she is quick to point out that “with our present participation in ‘Qalandia International’, it connects us with Ramallah via the checkpoint that separates us, and after which the festival takes its name.”
The art scene is Ramallah, she says, is much easier and more vibrant. “We are dealing with two different realities and we do often feel like a satellite here.”
Al Hoash has taken art to the streets of occupied Jerusalem, enabling its public to view artworks in a new setting, by exhibiting in neighbourhood shops as alternative gallery space, introducing art in day to day life of the occupied city.
Additionally, Rayyan explains, “ee also staged exhibitions and community activities in the only existing park in East Jerusalem, the Rockefeller Garden or ‘Karam al Khalili Garden’, to get people back there and reclaim the garden through art. The garden has had a bad reputation as it is used by drug addicts. But with our activities, we bring back the people and work together with marginalised groups to integrate them again in our society. This started in 2013. We are trying to convince others to use the park as well, by having created the spark, but people are reluctant, especially with the worrying political situation, exacerbated by the frequent clashes and violence.”
Rayyan, who studied politics and history of art, worked in Lebanon, Amman and Dubai but always had a strong connection to her homeland. She explains that when she took on the responsibility of her present position, her focus “is on image and perception and the German part in me (her mother is German) inquired, what is there? And what is there to do?
“Instead of continuing to dream for the art museum which needs a different space and huge budget, I used what is here and transformed one room to have an art museum-like atmosphere, Collectors’ Room, which is a permanent exhibition of a cluster of exceptional private collections of works by Palestinian artists, exhibited according to chosen themes.
Al Hoash also finds itself, like almost all non-governmental organisations, in dire financial straits and more so, as art and culture receive less attention than developmental programmes. Rayyan says they don’t own the place, and rents, taxes and running costs are very high indeed. “Our primary funder is Palestine Welfare Association and we obtain project grants from the EU and its partners,” she says.
At present Rayyan’s concern is that after the Gaza war, they have had to re-look the role of art and resistance. “We have to stop, see where we are, what we are doing and where we want to be. In this regard, Al Hoash is facilitating talks, panel discussions, forums with artists and all to raise awareness, especially to move away from a superficial view of resistance and by talking about it, we aim to unpack the role of visual art in the crises of Palestinian liberation, the shift of societal values, as well as the relationships between us and international audiences.”
Al Hoash’s latest exhibition features three artists from Gaza, and Rayyan says the challenge was to bring the art work there. They did it through video and photography because, as Rayyan puts it, “it became the only modes to not only share but to also connect with fellow artists.”
Another of Rayyan’s innovative ideas is to bring young artists and get them to work with traditional Palestinian craftsmen to modernise traditional forms and come up with new and exciting designs of already existing products.
This art is sold in the Gift Shop and Al Hoash also prints high quality posters of works from the Collectors’ Room for distribution as well as for sale to tourists and interested persons. Every December an art auction is also held. This has been going on for the last five years with local and international collectors bidding for the work of around 30 Palestinian artists.
Rayyan concludes on an intellectual note. “Witnessing the ongoing destruction of basic living conditions as well as the continual fragmentation of Palestinian realities within the designated patterns of occupation, we believe it is time to recount the past to understand the present and change our future, to get out of the limbo of being driven by process, serving the optimisation of occupation. History is an incomplete reconstruction of the past, which is filled with a system of symbols for an easier identification with the past: a past that is selectively remembered, to manifest the status quo of the dominant power.”
Michel Foucault defined counter-memory as an individual’s resistance to the official versions of historical continuity: the importance is who remembers, what the context of memory is, and what it opposes.
Al Hoash, under the stewardship of Rayyan, has certainly taken on a formidable task to counter the tide of “judiasation” of occupied Jerusalem by employing art to strategically support civil disobedience and resistance to occupation structures, and underpinned by a dogged determination; they bravely continue the struggle
Rafique Gangat, author of Ye Shall Bowl on Grass, is based in occupied Jerusalem.