“The real trauma of losing the homeland in 1948 was to be disconnected from the vital space, the landscape, the way of living, the potential of maintaining freedom of choice and becoming, as Slavoj Žižek says, always in a state of emergency, where the possibility of thinking and living in the present becomes impossible.”
Palestine-based Artist & Activist
Khalili is an architect, visual artist, and cultural activist. His works and writings have been exhibited and published in different exhibitions and publications. Khalili's photography is detailed, reflective and full of intent. Using photography and the written word, Khalili unpacks historically constructed landscapes. Borrowing from cinematic language, images become frames where the spectator embodies the progression of time and narratives. He weaves together parallel stories over the years, forming both questions and paradoxes concerning scenery and the act of gazing, all of which are refracted through the prism of intimate politics and alienating poetics. In particular, he focuses on the effect of geographical distance on our rendering of territory, and its ability to heighten or arrest our political and sentimental attachments.
Khalili currently lives and works in and out of Palestine and is currently director of the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, a non-profit organization working with the Visual Arts, Palestinian identity and narrative, and public activities.
A project by Yazan Khalili; photo by John Mireles
A project by Yazan Khalili
Yazan Khalili
Photo by John Mireles
Yazan Khalili
Yazan Khalili
Yazan Khalili
