An exhibition of new commissioned pieces by four young Palestinian artists has just opened in London’s Mosaic Rooms. In the Shade of the Sun is multidisciplinary and multilayered, ranging from film to ceramics, and from the political to the poetic.
The artists were brought together as part of the Bilna’es project, a platform created by established artists Ruanne Abou-Rahme and Basel Abbas to support artistic communities in Palestine and the diaspora. Three of the four artists were present at the opening of the exhibition; only electronic musician Makimakkuk, whose sound work was due to be performed, couldn’t make it due to visa problems and will come in October instead.
The first room features a short film by Mona Benyamin that uses the medium of a news broadcast, but one that is narrated through grand emotional displays, gestures and heated arguments.
Newsreaders are reduced to crying their way through a segment instead of speaking; TV journalists and interviewees scream at one another; witnesses have wildly differing stories; and a weather forecaster laughs unnervingly while images of conflict in Palestine appear behind him, spanning from the Nakba to present day.
“The medium of TV news has become tied to a form of truth when in reality it’s one of the most dramatised formats I have encountered,” explains Benyamin during a tour of the exhibition shortly after its opening. It’s also a format where the “images are meaningless without the spoken narrative”, she adds.
Benyamin turned to her own family members – mother, father, an uncle and a cousin – as actors for the video. Their constant reappearance in many different roles becomes a form of commentary on the endless and all-consuming cycle of violence and trauma that Palestinians live with, highlighting the tropes of conflict reporting that appear to flatten the subject matter despite the tragedies depicted. It also reflects the impossibility of reporting with emotional detachment on a subject that affects one so personally.
Xaytun Ennasr’s contribution is a multimedia installation called Revolution is a forest that the colonist can’t burn, which centres on the tree as a symbol of resistance and devotion. At the heart of the space is a beautifully gnarled 125-year-old olive tree (sadly not from Palestine due to restrictions) and two small fig trees that sit on a drape of embroidered fabric on which ceramic bowls are placed as “offerings”.
On the walls a series of drawings of trees seem to come alive against slightly surreal backdrops. With this project Ennasr wanted to explore what a “revolutionary relationship to nature outside of extraction, subjugation and domination could be; one based on love, tenderness, stewardship and living with the world rather than controlling it” – referring to this aesthetic as “radical softness”.
A video game developed in collaboration with Ennasr's brother takes this notion further, highlighting how landscapes and trees in video games are depicted almost exclusively as a resource to be extracted or colonised, or an obstacle to be destroyed. Instead, this game encourages visitors to fill a virtual landscape with trees that, as the exhibition progresses, will become a forest. It’s a compelling invitation to use the digital world as a space where new and “revolutionary” relationships with the natural world can be experimented with.
Downstairs a film by Jerusalem artist Dina Mimi runs in two chapters on different screens concurrently, and links the idea of the smuggler and the fugitive – of migration and escape routes – with birds as an intriguing central protagonist and leitmotif.
One screen focuses on the bird smuggling that takes place between Jordan and Palestine, while the other shows, in grainy 16mm film, songbird competitions in Amsterdam run by the Suriname community whose birds come from China via the South American country.
During the making of the piece, Mimi was fascinated with the story of the six Palestinian prisoners who had managed to escape a high-security facility in northern Israel in September 2021. She connects these bigger themes to a personal story of loss as a child, when a close friend moved away to another city.
“Proximity of distance does not mean ease,” she states in a melancholic voice-over. She seeks out this same friend years later and finds before her an intellectual and political revolutionary, but one with no real life experience. It is hard to be a revolutionary when you have everything to lose she remarks, when “your first mistake will be your last”.
In the Shade of the Sun runs at Mosaic Rooms, London, until January 14; mosaicrooms.org
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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Director: S Shankar
Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films
Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Living in...
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1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
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Fourth-round clashes for British players
- Andy Murray (1) v Benoit Paire, Centre Court (not before 4pm)
- Johanna Konta (6) v Caroline Garcia (21), Court 1 (4pm)
Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Brief scores:
Huesca 0
Real Madrid 1
Bale 8'
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.
Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Favourite things
Luxury: Enjoys window shopping for high-end bags and jewellery
Discount: She works in luxury retail, but is careful about spending, waits for sales, festivals and only buys on discount
University: The only person in her family to go to college, Jiang secured a bachelor’s degree in business management in China
Masters: Studying part-time for a master’s degree in international business marketing in Dubai
Vacation: Heads back home to see family in China
Community work: Member of the Chinese Business Women’s Association of the UAE to encourage other women entrepreneurs
Match info
Karnataka Tuskers 110-3
J Charles 35, M Pretorius 1-19, Z Khan 0-16
Deccan Gladiators 111-5 in 8.3 overs
K Pollard 45*, S Zadran 2-18
