Samia Halaby:Documentary Drawings of the Kafr Qasem Massacre
February 22, 2017 to May 30, 2017 - 12:30
The prints on exhibition are based on drawings made by Samia Halaby documenting the Kafr Qasem Massacre, which occurred on October 29, 1956. In creating the series the artist relied on the narrative pattern previously used by Emile Habiby in his book, On the 20th Anniversary of the Kafr Qasem Massacre, Kafr Qasem, the Political Massacre, now rare and difficult to find. In his narrative each consecutive event of the approximately three-hour-long massacre was named. The event inside the village and the one in the northern section were designated according to their location. On the western road entering the village there were nine events of killing, which Habiby designated the First to the Ninth Waves of killing. Although the application of numbered waves of killing is an artifact, the usefulness and accuracy of these divisions is confirmed by other narrators and allows for comprehension of the sequence of events. This sequence exposes the macabre intentions of the Israeli government through the actions of its Border Police, committing cold-blooded murder of Palestinian civilians with willful forethought.
The artist wishes to express special thanks to Kafr Qasem and to all those who helped her in her research. Their wonderful contributions are detailed in the book recently published Drawing the Kafr Qasem Massacre. The paragraphs describing the prints were written by the artist and are reproduced in the book.
Location of the exhibition: Birzeit University Museum. Main Gallery
Birzeit University Museum
Copy (DG) Printing, 55.9x76.2cm, 2012
Eighth Wave of Killing on the Western Road
Killed:
Mahmoud Khader Sarsour (27 years old)
Yousef Muhammad Sarsour (52 years old)
• Drawing number D2153
Mahmoud and his uncle Yousef Sarsour were returning home in a truck loaded with cement blocks. They were unaware of the curfew but knew well the cruelties of military rule. They were stopped by soldiers...
Fifth Wave of Killing on the Western Road
Mahmoud Abdal-Ghafer Rayyan (35 years old)
Mustafa Umar Odeh
Mustafa Abdal-Qader Sarsour known as Abu Thiyab
Jum'a Rasheed Bdier
Saleh Ahmad Sarsour
Mustafa Abdal-Qader Sarsour
Of the 43 men, women, and children who would die at the western...
Copy (DG) Printing, 76.2x113cm, 2012
Fourth Wave of Killing on the Western Road
A jeep full of Israeli soldiers was chasing the truck of the Fourth Wave. Suddenly, just after Saleh Amer, who had tried to get onto the moving truck was shot dead, old man Abu Mousa ran into the path of the jeep yelling, "Where are my sons? Where are my sons?" By doing so he had risked his life and...
Saleh Mahmoud Amer (40 years old)
The truck driver, Abdallah Easa, and 26 passengers among them:
Muhammad Khamees Amer known as Abu Butros, and
Mohamed Dahoud Rabi known as Abu Sameeh,
The truck of the Fourth Wave was stopped at the side of the road by...
Third Wave of Killing on the Western Road
Fathi Uthman Easa (12 years old)
Uthman Abed Hamad Easa (34 years old), Fathi's father
The 12 year old shepherd boy Fathi Easa was leading his family's herd of black goats home after pasture while his father, Uthman, was shooing them from the rear. The father having learned of the...
Copy, (DG) Printing, 47.9x66cm, 2012
Second Wave of Killing on the Western Road
Muhammad Abdal-Rahman Asi known as Abu Samaha (50 years old)
Ghazi Mahmoud Darweesh Easa (20 years old)
Wounded:
Isma'eel Mahmoud Bdier
Mahmoud Rasheed Bdier (14 years old),
Muhammad Abdal-Raheem Easa
Radiyya Bdier (eight years old)
And three others two of which were...
First Wave of Killing on the Western Road
Abdallah Bdier was shot at when bicycling home after work with his brother and two comrades in the First Wave of killing at the western entrance to the village. He immediately fell to the ground and pretended to be dead. When he first tried to crawl away, he was shot at again, and again he remained still. Later...
Copy (DG) Printing, 55.9x76.2, 2012
Ahmad Muhammad Freij (35 years old)
Ali Uthman Taha (30 years old).
Mahmoud Ahmad Freij
Abdallah Ismeer Bdier,
Five minutes before the curfew and unaware of it, four quarry workers were returning home to Kafr Qasem riding their bicycles....
Copy (DG) Printing on paper, 76x113 cm, 2012
Killing in the Northern Fields
Abdallah Ahmad Easa (15 years old)
Abed Muhammad Easa (nine years old)
Ibraheem Abdal-Hadi Easa (35 years old).
Sami Mahmoud Mustafa
In the northern fields of the village, three shepherd boys were out watering the family's flock of sheep not knowing that...
Infiltrate, 2016, acrylic on jute, 193 x 2.79 cm
Works of Illuminated Space Project / 811 To Return
In the second part of the exhibition, the artist will present three recently completed acrylic paintings of her project Illuminated Space: Between Birzeit and Ramallah, To Return: Infiltrate, and Mondrian Boogie Woogie. critic Maymana Farahat sheds light on the Artist's recent paintings & reviews them within broader frame of history of...
2016, Acrylic on canvas, 190.50X264.2cm
Mondrian Boogie Woogie / Works of Illuminated Space Project
In the second part of the exhibition, the artist will present three recently completed acrylic paintings of her project Illuminated Space: Between Birzeit and Ramallah, To Return: Infiltrate, and Mondrian Boogie Woogie. critic Maymana Farahat sheds light on the Artist's recent paintings & reviews them within broader frame of history...
2015, 153x203 cm, Acrylic on canvas.
Works of Illuminated Space Project / 791 Mountains Between