Son[i]a #424
Mahmoud Alhaj
Gazan artist Mahmoud Alhaj’s research and visual experiments draw on his past as a journalist. His practice takes the form of photomontages and films that capture the evolution of the war tactics and technologies used in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories, which for generations have been turned into a military laboratory by Israel. Mahmoud makes this siege of physical, psychological and infrastructural violence visible by working with and combining documents from the Israeli army, his own memories, images from Google Maps and the oral testimony of local residents, in order to challenge Israel’s attempts to control the narrative and counter the systematic historical erasure imposed on the Palestinian people.
In this podcast, Mahmoud Alhaj tells us about visual strategies and counter-strategies to reclaim their right to see. We talk about low-resolution images and human rights, about rubble and displacement architecture, and about how to build tents with whatever is at hand. In contrast, Mahmoud shows us 3D scans, pilots with architectural knowledge, military archives, and other psyops tactics. He also gives us a glimpse of the art scene in the Gaza Strip and the resilience of the Palestinian people. In his work, the past, present, and future collapse, while the perception of time operates differently in the everyday life of the occupation.
With the collaboration of:
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