American Nakba

 

AMERICAN NAKBA

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Spray paint and dmc thread on canvas (30x40in / 76x101cm)

My story is one of an indigenous Palestinian and of an American immigrant. To Palestinians, al Nakba, or the catastrophe, refers to the ethnic cleansing (including attacks, massacres, demolitions, and forced expulsions) in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The Nakba of the Native Americans and the enslaved Africans are dismissed so easily by many Americans as part of the bigger picture that created the nation they so proudly identify with. There is a strange irony and hypocrisy in being a Palestinian, living on and identifying with a land belonging to indigenous people still being ethnically cleansed from their native land through a parallel system of white settler colonialism to that of the ongoing Nakba. This is represented with the spray painted American flag and the hand embroidered Palestinian motifs of stars, trees, and feathers. Brainwashed by our education, media and national rhetoric, we disregard the truth and events that have occurred to allow us to create this identity we hold on to so tightly. How does my American identity differ to someone who claims to be Israeli?

Detail of American Nakba

Detail of American Nakba

Detail of American Nakba

Detail of American Nakba