{"id":5573,"date":"2021-02-25T14:09:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T10:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/?p=5573"},"modified":"2021-02-26T11:04:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T07:04:38","slug":"nabil-anani-and-the-utopia-of-a-palestine-without-walls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/nabil-anani-and-the-utopia-of-a-palestine-without-walls\/","title":{"rendered":"Nabil Anani and The Utopia of a Palestine Without Walls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having grown up in the Palestinian village of Halhoul, located in what is today the Israeli occupied West Bank, Nabil Anani, 78, has preserved the images of what his home looked like back then: a landscape free of walls and security fences. And the artist, one of the most famous in Palestine, has reproduced these images for an exhibition, \u201cIn\u00a0Pursuit of Utopia,\u201d which is presented in Zawyeh Gallery in Dubai’s Al Serkal Avenue until\u00a0April 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe natural landscape in Palestine faces an everyday threat of being erased by (Jewish) settlements, bypass roads, and separation walls,\u201d told Nabil Anani to the MBRSC Post in a Zoom interview. \u201cI lived my childhood in Halhoul, and I always miss the rural life I experienced there. In the 80\u2019s, I drew Palestinian villages, but when I came back to them years later, they changed. They\u2019re dominated by settlements and a lot of the old houses were demolished. The landscapes I drew in the 80\u2019s are very different now that I want to draw them again,\u201d he explained. So he decided to create a Palestine without the walls of the occupation, a utopia inspired by his memories of Halhoul.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 18 paintings of the exhibition took a year and a half to complete. Zawyeh Gallery, Dubai. February 10, 2021. Raseel Amro.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But this is not the first time Nabil Anani’s artworks are showcased in the United Arab Emirates as he was part of group exhibitions organized by the Barjeel Art Foundation and Meem Gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some his artworks, the painter has used spices and other earth elements from Palestine. \u201cWhen I opened the box containing the paintings after they were shipped from Ramallah to Dubai, it was as if I was standing in a kitchen,\u201d explained Ziad.\u00a0 Some of the spices the artist used were sumac, turmeric, nigella sativa, as well as\u00a0 blue copper sulfate, and other natural elements. \u201cWhen I used to go to the spices market, ” said Nabil Anani, “there would be piles of different colorful spices, and that would attract me.” “I would tell the seller that I want this color and that color, without knowing what the spices were.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Palestinian, visiting this exhibition allowed me to experience a free Palestinian landscape that is hard for me to imagine, but yet Nabil Anani was able to deliver it gracefully. His use of natural elements is something worth experiencing in person. And any art and nature lover should definitely pay a visit to this exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Utopia #17 is one of Anani’s painting which grabs the most attention due to the separation wall being replaced with Palestinian prints, according to Shahid ElShahry, the gallery’s assistant. Zawyeh Gallery, Dubai, February 10, 2021. Raseel Amro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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