Danko Stjepanovic
Artwork Details:
Artist(s)
Khalil Rabah
Title
Palestine after Palestine: The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind
Date
2017
Medium(s)
Mixed media installation
Dimensions/Duration
Dimensions variable
Photo Credit
Palestine after Palestine: The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind
Khalil Rabah is a Palestinian artist recognised for his performative interventions that reconstruct historical narratives. The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind (1995–ongoing), a parafictional museum for a nation that does not exist, serves as a centrifugal anchor for Rabah’s query into Palestinian displacement, collective memory and identity. He examines the relationship between humans and their surroundings as well as the nature of human suffering.
Palestine after Palestine: New Sites for the Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind Departments (2017) is an iteration of Rabah’s museum project. Humorously mimicking the Eurocentric, ‘encyclopaedic’ model for museums, including the typical visual language and architectural planning of displays, this modular installation offers multilinear alternatives that complicate the hegemonic narrative surrounding the geography and history of Palestine. Among the individual works are sculptures alluding to the Nakba, Naksa and Oslo Accords, a historical map of Palestine, and works calling attention to the environmental effects of settler colonialism and the plight of zoo animals after bombardment.
