Jameel text

Hannoun, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

Taysir Batniji's site-specific, performative installation Hannoun features a room that mirrors the size of the artist's studio space in Gaza, a place that is now inaccessible. Batniji's studio was completed in 2001; however, he left Gaza shortly after, returning each year until 2006 when border closures prevented further access. His studio has been abandoned ever since and was recently bombed by the Israeli occupation armyduring the ongoing genocide.  

Hannoun was inspired by a childhood memory from 1972, in which Batniji avoided doing his schoolwork by sharpening pencils. The floor of the room is scattered with red pencil shavings, leading to a picture of Batniji's studio at the end. The shavings, resembling a field of poppies, are a national symbol of Palestine, embodying the colours of the Palestinian flag and often associated with the memory of martyrs.  

Hannoun can be seen as an intimate space of meditation and dreaming, while also creating an impassable threshold. This piece follows several perforrnative projects by the artist, that evoke notions of memory, erasure, non-being, and destruction/construction or deconstruction/restitution.