LIKE

LIKE

Animation, mobile phone, cotton thread on linen, 2025
On view until January 5 in the Sila: All That is Left to You exhibtion, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah

Like, comment, share, and save. Actions once taken for pleasurable content, such as funny memes and cat videos, are now reserved for violence, death, and destruction. The first part of this work is an animation of a social media post trapped in an infinite scroll. The post is made up of the traditional Palestinian Graves embroidery motif, echoing the photographs and videos of mass graves of Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. There is a red embroidered heart ‘liking’ the content. This work examines the absurdity and profound impact that social media has on how we engage with and collectively remember extreme violence. A primary example of this is the act of 'liking' the unimaginable horror we witness to manipulate social media algorithms that censors and shadowbans Palestinian content.

The second part of this work is a pattern of a Like Heart motif embedded in the traditional Graves motif, hand embroidered on linen and made in collaboration with the Inaash Association’s embroiderers. Creating the Like Heart, modeled after Meta’s ‘like’ heart on Instagram, is an example of the dynamic nature and evolution of motif language. Reflecting on the repetitive nature of scrolling and liking on social media, this artwork highlights how these addictive actions affect our internal and external worlds. Though the piece focuses on how the act of ‘liking’ these painful images is out of alignment with what we feel, one can also reframe it to see the repetition of hearts in this work as a way to encourage compassion and empathy.  Integrating and repeating the heart motif in the traditional Graves motif pattern is a reminder to be intentional and conscious when we witness the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza through the little screens glued to our hands.