In the wake of the ongoing genocidal war in Palestine and Lebanon, Joe Namy offers a space to listen to what endures. His works echo the persistence of life across generations and landscapes—the resilience of communities, the lifeways rooted in trees and soil, and the stories that resist erasure despite violent attempts tosilence them.
Until the Elegy Ends brings together interconnected works, each tracing the continuity of people, identities, and cultures. Among them is Namy’s documentation of ancient olive orchards in Deir Mimas in Southern Lebanon, where Israeli white phosphorus airstrikes have targeted many trees, while others stand as quiet symbols of generational vitality. Another work, a sound sculpture, evokes the haunting call of a siren, exposing the fragility of settler colonial safety in Palestine and bearing witness to silenced realities.
Namy also draws on the musical legacy and philosophy of Halim El-Dabh, whose composition after the Nakba underscores sound as a vessel that can carry meanings and memory across time. His collaboration with musicians from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music builds on this idea of sound, transforming personal memories into sonic testimonies that speak to the deep connections between Palestinians and their land.
Together, these works function as interconnected elegies—mourning the profound loss unfolding around us while also echoing survival. They testify to the enduring relationship between people and land, suggesting that memory is not passive but an active force—one that moves through generations, bears life, and shapes new realities in defiance of the persistent threat of erasure.
Joe Namy is a Lebanese artist and musician based in London. His work focuses on sound—its history, social impact, and relationship to the built environment. Through collaborative public sculptures and performances, Namy examines how sound is socially constructed and shaped by political forces. His practice also explores gender dynamics in sound, the migration of instruments, and the translation across languages, scores, sounds, and bodily movements in dance. Additionally, Namy has undertaken projects that trace the history and resonance of opera houses across eleven Middle Eastern countries and delve into the archive of Halim El-Dabh, an Egyptian pioneer of electronic music.