Majd Abdel Hamid Muscle Memory, 2022.
Photo: courtesy of the artist

Abstraction and Deceleration

How do we react to the world when it is collapsing? When trauma permeates the thoughts and bodies of people forced into exile, people who have lost their bearings? How do we cry? How do we talk about the hardships we’ve experienced when we can’t catch our breath? How do we bear witness to what has been lost? How do we remember?

Without formulating answers, Palestinian artist Majd Abdel Hamid expresses these questions in humble and most often abstract forms. He does not seek to accuse, disclose guilt, or ask for collective reparations. He also does not gloss over the pain inflicted on people by tragedy; instead, he seems to take action while also keeping a certain distance. He is not trying to respond to history or topical issues. In his work, he asks us to slow down, to take the time required to think critically and awaken a poetic imagination.

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