Palestine Gallery Commission, London
Commissioned by the Palestine Gallery in London in 2008, to create a work depicting Palestinian life and culture from 1900 to present day. We chose to print and paint on a mix of canvas fragments and paper which we assembled as one canvas 18metres long by 2 to 4metres deep.
Santa’s Ghetto, Bethlehem 2007
we’re still smoking the jordanian ‘rizlas’ johnny got us from the local shop – their the purest smoke, no glue! anyone know how to import them? We haven’t put up any pictures of our palestinian friends here for fear that they’d get hassled by the israeli authorities – but we think of you lot a lot!
some of our prints next to Sulheiman Mansour’s sculpture of cracked mud – we met Sulheiman, he’s a beautiful artist, done some radical work, he told us of a teahouse he opened for a day in the threatened and abandoned heart of Hebron where the palestinian citizens are terrorised by the young soldiers of Israel and the now present israeli settlers who have been ‘settled’ in the centre of the major palestinian city of Hebron. The palestinians shops and houses are still there but abandoned, under threat from israeli’s, and down there in the heart of the old city Sulheiman and a band of artists opened a teahouse to sit drink tea and discuss anything with regular citizens, israeli troops and israeli settlers. He described it as a successful attempt to start dialogue between whoever came along. Sulheiman is a driving force at the Arts Academy in Ramallah.
We walked down those streets in the heart of Hebron, the palestinian people had to erect cages to cover their streets to protect themselves from missiles being dropped by israelis who occupy the upper floors of the buildings.
checkpoint at exact centre of Hebron to stop palestinians from freely accessing their mosque on the other side
the mosque. This is where the israli occupation of Hebron began, about 10 years ago a group of israeli settlers entered this mosque and shot dead more than 40 palestinian worshippers. From that point on the state of Israel declared it an no go area, state of emergency and encircled it with 4000 israeli troops, after a year Israel lifted the no-go status but left the soldiers in place and began placing israeli settlers in surrounding houses, the state invited the settlers to use the mosque as their place of worship which they do. The Israeli settler population that inhabit the area around the mosque number only 150 people but they have a school. Many choose to sleep outside the city in neighbouring settlements but dutifully bus in every day under military escort in order to occupy the area. 4000 soldiers provide ‘security’ for this little group of families. The palestinian citizens who had houses and shops in the area have been harassed by the soldiers, which is severe, to a point where most dwellings belonging to them lie deserted. The Palestinian Authority runs an incentive programme that allows free electricity and water and low rent to any palestinian willing to live in these streets, only the very desperately poor take up the offer. Palestinians are allowed to use a small part of the mosque at certain times if they are willing to face the checkpoint that surrounds it.
the mad military aesthetic of the israeli settlement. we would see this one from Bethlehem on our walk home from the Ghetto each night. it’s been built in the last 10 years
Made In Palestine
Made in Palestine detail
the charming israeli apartheid wall, great inspiration for kids growing up alongside it
New Statesman Christmas Card
Happy Christmas From Santa's Ghetto Bethlehem 2007
Nakba 60 billboard series
The Nakba 60 commissioned a group of artists to create a series of billboards to highlight the destruction of the state of Palestine at the moment Israel was created. It ran the billboards as Israel had their 60th anniversary celebrations in London.
Nakba 60 billboard by kennardphillipps in Kensal Rise
BULB expose Caterpillar brand involved in attack on Palestinian homes
BULB issue 10 June:July 2006
Nakba 60
Nakba 60
billboard in kensal rise, london
2008
Who’s paying for this?
print on apartheid wall around/ in bethlehem
palestine2007
Happy Christmas From Palestine
Art Attack
New Statesman article about Santa's Ghetto 2007 in Bethlehem Palestine, written by Peter
The phone rings; the number is withheld. It’s Banksy. He wants to know whether I can go to Bethlehem over Christmas. He is putting on an exhibition, bringing together like-minded artists from all over the world to raise awareness of the situation in Palestine.