Monday, 21 October 2013

Time and Remains: Reflection on the Palestinian Landscape - James Morris



A quick word about the exhibition " Time and Remains: Reflection on the Palestinian Landscape" by James Morris which is on at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre until 2nd November. I would encourage everybody to see it, especially those who do not know much about the recent history of Palestine. It is a very interesting, instructive and fascinating account.

http://www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk/exhibitions/time-and-remains

In Time and Remains
the photographer James Morris brings together two distict stories observed within  the landsape of Israel/Palestine. The first documents the traces of the now historical Palestinian presence in much of  the Israel landscape and references the destruction and expulsions of the 1948 war that brought about the state of Israel entitled That Still Remains. The second documentsWhen the time comes the physical manifestations of conquest, occupation, settlement and control in the contemporary landscape of the West Bank. Together they are witness to both a cause and a consequence of this on-going conflict.
The work is the result  of 6  visits  to Israel and the West Bank that James Morris visited  beteen 2011 and 2012.

In the first story many of the pictures are taken on or very close to the original location of a Palestinian village or town. Many scenes defy, in what there is left to see, the history of the place. In others it is more obvious.
It also confronts the Israeli foundation myth that Palestine was a land without people, for a people without land, by documenting the sacttered remains from across the country of the now historic Palestinian presence in much of Israel's landscape.

Thee scond narrative  looks at the contemporary landscape of the West Bank;  in the light of persistent failures to achieve any lasting resolution to the conflict, in a place where Israeli settlers and Palestinians  appear to exist in parallel worlds.

http://jamesmorris.info/portfolio/time-remains-reflections-palestinian-landscape/

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