Umm El-Fahem Art Gallery

The gallery's main goal is to be a home for Arab artists and Art and to create a meeting point for a meaningful dialogue between cultures

New Exhibition: Mintarat Al-Batten

New Exhibition: Mintarat Al-Batten

Walid Abu Shakra                          

A retrospective in two parts 

A Collaboration between the Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery & the Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Walid Abu Shakra, born in Umm el-Fahem (1946) is one of the most important Palestinian artists. He began his artistic career in Israel in the 1960s and 1870s, before moving to England, where he studied the art of etching. As a result of the strong bond that developed in recent years between the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery and thanks to the support of the late Prof. Moti Omer, a two-part  exhibitions are about to open – one part in the museum and the other in the gallery – each showcasing works from different periods of the artist’s career.

Mintart Al-Batten – Walid Abu Shakra’s wroks from the 60′s and 70′s

Curator: Farid Abu Shakra

Openning at the Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery: Saturday, 24 December 2011 at 12:00

 

Mintara Al-Batten – Walid Abu Shakra’s works from the 80′s

Curators: Irith Hadar and Farid Abu Shakra

Opening at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art: Thursday, 5 January 2012 at 18:00

 

The retrospective exhibition of the artist Walid Abu Shakra is divided into two different periods of his life. One features works he made after completing his studies in 1973 at the Avni Institute; the other begins in 1977, when he completed his studies in Etching inEngland. The exhibition is an outgrowth of the marvelous friendship that developed over the years between the late Prof. Moti Omer and Walid Abu Shakra, the artist, and the decision to mount it was taken before Prof. Omer passed away.

Walid Abu Shakra, who was born in Umm el-Fahem in 1946, was one of the first Arab-Israeli artists to study Art. Even while studying in Tel Aviv and also early in his career as an artist, Abu Shakra expressed his longing for the village where he was born, for his family and for the olive tree landscape. He was the first to return to the area with a camera, to photograph the almond and olive groves and the village elders. He photographed and documented the landscape of his childhood, as though expecting that a new time would come and everything would change in the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately for Abu Shakra, his prophecy was fulfilled, and the population explosion which resulted in Umm el-Fahem’s expansion, also caused the picturesque vistas that once could be seen from every window and house in the village, to disappear. Abu Shakra’s drawings and photos remain the sole testament of the landscape of Umm el-Fahem and the village’s way of life prior to the great change.

Early in the 1970s, Abu Shakra traveled toLondon, where be began immersing himself in the art of etching. The sense of alienation he felt while living inEnglandcaused him to devote himself totally to the scenery of his homeland. Working obsessively, he etched his childhood memories onto copper plates, naming every tree, plot of land and hill, as they had been etched into his mind before he departed from home.

The name “Mintarat Al-Batten” is familiar to everyone who lived in Umm el-Fahem in the 1960. The words refer to an old watchtower point atop a hill that is a well-know part of the northern landscape, a point Abu Shakra has longed for all the time he has lived in England.

For more images of Walid Abu Shakra’s works please click on the image below -

Walid Abu Shakra – Works 1967-1989

Between Vision and Reality

Between Vision and Reality

By Said Abu Shakra, Director of the gallery and the creator of the concept of future Umm el-Fahem Museum of Contemporary Art

 

The city of Umm el-Fahem, an Arab city in Israel, lies on the slope of Mt. Iskander and the adjacent hills, overlooking the important historical route that once connected large and distant regions of a war-torn land. Many people and various cultures wound their way along the Wadi at the foot of the mountain, thus making it a pivotal crossroads and a major link in the development and future of the entire region.
Fifty thousand people reside in this now fast-growing community, destined to become a central cultural meeting place for the large, dense concentration of Arab population in the Wadi’s surroundings by virtue of its location and unique qualities. For centuries the local residents have cultivated the land that became the source of their dignity, pride and livelihood. This persistent connection with the land has given rise to a diverse and fascinating culture encompassing fashion, poetry, pottery and building, as well as various customs and traditions.
The war that broke out tore the rich, delicate cultural fabric. In its wake, the large settlement became a place of gloomy corners and dark alleys. Families were scattered, leaving years of hard work and a devastated culture behind. The once rich and sprawling town was now poor and struggling to survive. Its residents were no longer masters of their own faith; they became persecuted refugees. Poverty, unemployment, and an identity crisis brought about one of the worst battles for survival the city has ever had to face. Under difficult social and political circumstances the community forged ahead with a clear message of protest, becoming the vanguard of the entire Arab population in Israel.
It was into this harsh and complex reality that the Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery was born. Within a short period of time it became a center of culture and activity for the whole region. A sense of commitment to the past as well as to the future of the place motivates the people who continue steadfastly and lovingly to operate the Gallery. The mission is clear. Whatever was destroyed by the war should be rebuilt. This should be done at once, without compromise, and with a great effort. We realize that it is our heavy and long-term responsibility to rebuild, collect, study, commemorate and present all we can pertaining to the Arab and Palestinian culture that was crushed. The output of this work will be incorporated into a large building, the first ever Arab museum to provide a bridge between past, present and future, a home to a vision that will reinstate people with happiness, pride, and a sense of belonging.
The idea to establish a museum was born in a vast and anguished void, a devastating lack of professional staff, of resources and infrastructure. The Gallery started operating out of a sense of awareness and responsibility for the future, aiming to pave a new way in a new direction. The means are meager and the road is long and arduous. With only the existing means we have embarked on several different activities. Artists, curators and other professionals from different countries and cultures have been invited to take part in this joint collaboration. The Gallery has become an important social and cultural meeting place. The creative workshops, seminars, gallery talks, symposiums, the many art exhibitions and unique display spaces have turned it into a central place in the local and international culture scene.
The Gallery is now on its way to becoming the first Arab museum of contemporary art in Israel. This museum will be an inviting, embracing and enriching place, capable of bridging gaps and connecting different cultures that live side by side in the heart of a troubled, war weary region. We shall strive to raise a generation steadfastly true to its culture and identity, a generation that will take responsibility for its life and its future; a generation of proud and deep-rooted young people, committed to reclaiming the wilderness and to pursuing peace.

This Week at the Gallery

The Umm el-Fahem art gallery is hosting a seminar titled: “Oral history, Memory and Art”. The seminar will take place between the 20th and the 23rd of February 2012 and is part of an effort to become a member of the Israeli Archive and Information Association. The seminar which is hosted in cooperation with AISO (Italian Association of Oral history) will address questions pertaining oral history, archives and art.

The objective of the seminar is to bring together researchers from Italy, Switzerland, France and Israel who are studying various fields relating to the gallery’s areas of activity, i.e. art, culture, archive management and oral history. The seminar will include sessions dealing with such various subjects, as oral history and testimony, oral history and nation building, gender and social aspects of oral history, photography and testimony, creating stories/narratives and building archives, art and history.

The speakers will include: Alessandro Portelli, Pierre Hazan. Kais Firro, Ismail Abu-Saad, Rawda Makhoul, Gabriella Gribaudi, Alain Blum and more. Addressing the line where oral history and art meet will be Israeli researchers, curators and photographers, among them Tal Ben-Zvi, Rona Sela, Guy Raz, ‘Ammar Younis, Sa’id Abu Shakra and Shai Aloni.

The seminar has been organized by Raya Cohen (Federico II university, Naples) and Mustafa Kabaha, head of the History, Philosophy, and Jewish studies department in the Open University and the academic advisor and manager for the Umm el-Fahem art gallery’s archive.

The seminar’s production was made possible thanks to the kind support of the Italian Cultural Institutes in Tel Aviv and Haifa and the Swiss embassy in Israel.

The Seminar is closed to the general public. For more information please contact Lilli Stern, Director of Planning and Development at lilli@ummelfahemgallery.org

 

 

Wordpress Themes - Wordpress Video Themes - Wordpress Travel Themes - WordPress Restaurant Themes