Berlin, October 24, 2010
Dor Guez’s Al-Lydd is a series of video interviews presented at KW Berlin and curated by Susanne Pfeffer. In this work the artist interviews several residents of Lod, formerly known by its Arab name Al-Lydd, a small town in Israel. These are Christian Arabs, who identify themselves as “a minority in a minority”. They are citizens of Israel, who despite their upbringing in Jewish schools and surrounded by Israel culture suffer the burden of anti-Arab racism. This comes to light in the artist’s interview of a young woman, Samira who is employed as a waitress, in one of Lod’s restaurants. She communicates the story of having been called into her boss’s office because of clients who complained at having an Arab woman serve their table. The boss asks her if she can please change her name, written on the client’s check. After her refusal the boss makes it clear that the refusal will result in her losing her job, so a compromise is reached where she will employ the name Mira on the check, a name which aids in concealing her Arab identity. Another work July 13, 2009 is an elder resident’s recollections on the occupation of Lod by Israeli para-militants on 13 July, 1948. At this time, the remaining Palestinian residents, a thousand in number, take refuge in the local church. This building, which is later surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by the Israeli military becomes the center of Lod’s Palestinian ghetto. The stories are simple, but very clearly outline the conflicted identity of these individuals, Christian-Arab-Israeli-Palestinian they belong to all, and yet also to no one’s camp. For the Palestinians they are not Muslin, and in that lesser Arabs. For the Israeli’s they are Palestinian, and therefore suspect. This work is a chilling view of the mechanics of racism in what is called the Middle East’s only Democracy.
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This entry was posted on October 24, 2010 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Art, Politics /Social commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Dor Guez at KW Berlin
Berlin, October 24, 2010
Dor Guez’s Al-Lydd is a series of video interviews presented at KW Berlin and curated by Susanne Pfeffer. In this work the artist interviews several residents of Lod, formerly known by its Arab name Al-Lydd, a small town in Israel. These are Christian Arabs, who identify themselves as “a minority in a minority”. They are citizens of Israel, who despite their upbringing in Jewish schools and surrounded by Israel culture suffer the burden of anti-Arab racism. This comes to light in the artist’s interview of a young woman, Samira who is employed as a waitress, in one of Lod’s restaurants. She communicates the story of having been called into her boss’s office because of clients who complained at having an Arab woman serve their table. The boss asks her if she can please change her name, written on the client’s check. After her refusal the boss makes it clear that the refusal will result in her losing her job, so a compromise is reached where she will employ the name Mira on the check, a name which aids in concealing her Arab identity. Another work July 13, 2009 is an elder resident’s recollections on the occupation of Lod by Israeli para-militants on 13 July, 1948. At this time, the remaining Palestinian residents, a thousand in number, take refuge in the local church. This building, which is later surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by the Israeli military becomes the center of Lod’s Palestinian ghetto. The stories are simple, but very clearly outline the conflicted identity of these individuals, Christian-Arab-Israeli-Palestinian they belong to all, and yet also to no one’s camp. For the Palestinians they are not Muslin, and in that lesser Arabs. For the Israeli’s they are Palestinian, and therefore suspect. This work is a chilling view of the mechanics of racism in what is called the Middle East’s only Democracy.
Like this:
This entry was posted on October 24, 2010 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Art, Politics /Social commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.