Jun 13 2024 1 mins
The installation Where the soil has been disturbed consists of a series of freestanding steel panels interspersed with concrete bricks, from which dried, skeletal plants seem to grow. Images, drawings, archival notes, and printed screenshots of the artists’ poetry is mounted on the panels. The prints are arranged in overlapping constellations, referencing the digital window on a computer desktop screen.
The plants in the installation are dried Syrian thistles, a plant native to Palestine. For some, the thistle is considered an undesirable plant, but for Palestinians it has long served as a wild source of food and medicine. The plant often grows where the soil has been disturbed and can form an almost impenetrable barrier. When the thistles die and decay, their nutrients return to the soil and nourish other dormant or suppressed forms of seeds and vegetation. For the artists, the thistle symbolises resilience and resistive power in various forms.
The installation is joined by the work Low cloud hum, a series of light, textile banners imbued with saturated images of plants. Subtly swaying in the air, they echo the color palette of the nearby video projections.