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The fermentation process is as much about rebirth as reinvention. Take the much-loved Palestinian and Levantine staple, makdoos, for example. It starts with a small aubergine, salted to remove its bitterness. The flesh gradually softens, allowing it to be stuffed with walnuts, garlic and chilli, then packed into a jar and submerged in olive oil.
Over several weeks, the once raw and firm aubergine becomes tender and its former bitterness gives way to a new profile of funky and fiery flavours. This process may be informed by science but is deeply rooted in culture and heritage. Ancient civilisations, from the Chinese to the Egyptians, documented their methods of fermentation centuries ago.
In light of Palestine’s ongoing struggle for self-determination, maintaining these techniques has become an urgent matter of cultural survival.
This mindset infuses the work of Palestinian artist Mirna Bamieh in her exhibition Sour Things. The mixed media show – blending ceramics, drawings, text and video – highlights her homeland’s rich food fermentation and preservation techniques, responsible for dishes such as makdoos. In doing so, it draws unsettling parallels between nature’s ability to regenerate and the self-destructive tendencies of humankind.
Unveiled first at Sharjah Biennial, Sour Things is now running at Nika Project Space in Paris, the first international outpost of the Dubai gallery.
Speaking to The National, Bamieh explains how the Paris version differs from the one in Sharjah. While the earlier version was a creative step into the unknown, this new chapter is shaped by the grief of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
"Certain aspects of the exhibition are still too intense for me," she says. "When I was working on it, I remember taking my ceramic pieces out of the kiln, and they looked so raw and visceral – like my guts were on the outside. I couldn't even look at them because they felt so angry, which is what I've been feeling for a long time now.
"My emotions have materialised into these objects, and it is hard to share them with the world, especially in the context of everything happening in Palestine. After October … something broke in all of us. I didn’t know I could be this angry or this sad, but at least I was able to find a form for those emotions through my work."
Sour Things is an evolving exhibition designed to harness Bamieh's ongoing reflections on Palestinian displacement. The Pantry, one of three new installations in Paris, speaks of a life in sudden flux. Ceramic plates and glass jars hold items such as salt and lemons, while the pantry walls teeter dangerously on the brink of destruction. A series of accompanying videos features shards of pottery Bamieh collected from Palestine, being gathered and washed.
Bamieh describes The Pantry as the genesis of the Sour Things project. "The idea began organically during the pandemic when I was stuck in my apartment in Ramallah," she says. "I found myself instinctively creating a pantry – fermenting, freezing, and preserving food without even thinking about it. It felt like my body was preparing for an uncertain future. This practice made me reflect on the broader theme of preservation – what it means to protect what we have when the future is so uncertain."
That sense of dread is in full bloom in Grieving in Colours, another new feature of the exhibition, where a batch of gooey oranges hangs suspended on white walls. Rot has set in, rendering them a gloopy mess.
"That’s part of how I make art. From afar, my work looks colourful, full of life, but when you get closer, you see the sadness and heaviness behind it," she adds. "I think I hide very well behind colours and forms.
"My work is not overtly political, but everything I do is political because I am Palestinian. The stories, the recipes, the preservation practices ... they’re all a reflection of the struggle and resilience of our people."
Bamieh notes that exploring the fermentation process is an ideal canvas for telling the story of Palestine. "If you really consider it, fermentation is a metaphor for survival," she says. "It goes back centuries and down to indigenous practices because it is rooted in concern about the harm we are doing to the world.
"As Palestinians, it is especially meaningful because we always ferment and preserve things, from yoghurt to olives. In Palestine, the pantry remains extremely important. Every time there’s a strike or a roadblock – and that still happens frequently – we have to rely on the food we've preserved. When there's an announcement of a crisis or shortage, the first thing people do is rush to refill their pantries, and the shelves quickly empty because everyone understands the importance of having preserved items."
With the war raging on, Bamieh credits Sour Things as an outlet to express her rage and trauma. However, it has come at the cost of discontinuing her popular Palestinian Hosting Society series of dinners, held in cities from Vienna to New York, where she presents forgotten dishes reflecting Palestinian history and heritage.
"These dinner performances are meant to be places of celebration, and I don't feel like being a host and telling people Palestine's story when my people are at war, hungry and dying," she states. "Now I am angry, and my focus has shifted to working on things that are more solitary and contemplative ... this is what I need."
Sour Things by Mirna Bamieh is running at Nika Project Space, Paris, until October 27
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Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
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Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
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How being social media savvy can improve your well being
Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.
As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.
Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.
Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.
Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.
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Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
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- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
