Exhibition view.
Untitled (Arab al-Sbaih no. 37), al-Baqa’a Refugee Camp, Jordan, 2007.
Exhibition view.
Untitled (The Valley no. 24), Arab al-Shibli, Palestine, 2007-2008.
Exhibition view.
Exhibition view.
exhibition
Why did you leave the forest empty?
Ahlam Shibli

January – May 2010

Ahlam Shibli presents her first solo show in the region, "Why did you leave the forest empty?". The exhibition includes the two series, Arab al-Sbaih (2007) and The Valley (2007-2008). Arab al-Sbaih references the original name of Shibli's home village in Palestine. The photographs were taken in several locations within Jordan where three generations of Palestinians refugees have been living since the 1948 Nakba. Shibli intimately explores the daily experiences in the camps community while searching for the meaning of "Home". The images focus on Shibli's distant relatives, who were expelled to Jordan after being forced to flee their village in the Galilee. The images from the series The Valley were taken in Shibli's village, Arab al-Shibli, in Lower Galilee and its lands. The series explores the conditions of building a house and the regulations imposed on the Palestinian people by the Israeli State, Shibli records the situations created by the ongoing violations of Palestinian land rights.

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