“I write under protest. I have escaped to the ends of the Earth, because, having lost the center of my world, I became free to roam, to float, to try to forget the unforgettable.  It is too painful to try as you asked me to reconstruct my days in Arab Jerusalem, AlQuds, or as we said it, Al’uds.”

Excerpt from a letter by artist Vladimir Tamari to his sister Vera Tamari

*   *   *

Artwork that tell the Stories…

How beautiful to relive our memories and return to visit Birzeit University campus. What is even more special is to retrieve them while visiting the most beautiful, most intimate and most Palestinian of spots.

There… I heard quiet voices, whispering and laughing. Some were crying, others were angry or agitated… From afar, I imagined I heard a girl saying, “Momma! I cannot walk anymore. I’m tired.”

Another voice of a man was saying, “Don’t be afraid, my son. No need to carry all your stuff with you. We will be back,  God  willing.” The son replied, “Ooh, I’m afraid, dad, this thing will keep going on and we will never be back!”

I sighed as a tired old woman… But at the same time, I enjoyed watching the artwork that took me away and told me the stories of nakba and conflict, the traditional stories that are used to tell the Tale of “Love and Revolution”.

Burhan Karkutli, a Syrian artist, was fond of drawing the innocence of Arab girls, especially Palestinians, as well as traditional feasts, including weddings, in addition to drawing Arab and Palestinian national leaders such as Sheikh Izziddin Al-Qassam and Abdul-Qader Al-Husseini. When you look at these paintings, you can hear the sound of Heritage…… the sound of Love and the sound of Palestine.

A Museum for Holding Our Cultural History

Birzeit University has always recognized the importance of advancing arts and culture within its academic programs and students’ extracurricular activities, linking them to ethnographic studies, social history, cultural studies, arts and architecture. Nurturing culture and arts is a major pillar of the University’s educational mission, primarily aiming at developing creative and dynamic individuals, who can use their creativity to contribute to the development of the Palestinian society (1).

Within this spirit, in 2005 the University established the Ethnographic and Art Museum, for the University’s collection of artworks and heritage materials. The Museum holds regular art exhibits, while also archiving, maintaining and developing its collection. It also hosts visiting visual art exhibits focusing on contemporary experiences and practices.

The museum has become specialized and unique. It contains two exhibit rooms, one for art exhibits and collections and the other for heritage assets

In the first exhibit room I tried to listen to what the paintings were saying. These were artworks of the late artist Burhan Karkutli, paintings of “Love and Revolution”…… But another voice started to call me in a loud but high-bred tone, “Come on here, please, to our Jerusalem room and see the memories of the old times…”

Memories of the old times… a Jerusalem family room:

Before 1948, the middle class Jerusalemite families used to have a special family room, where they could meet together, creating a focal point in their lives. Family members, neighbors, relatives and friends used to gather in this room to celebrate traditional social and personal events. The family room used to reflect the social status and taste of that period, as well as the standing of Jerusalem as a multicultural city. This social, ethnic and religious diversity had its mark on the way the Palestinian family decorated its living room or “Salon”. They reflected also the markets that were filled with an amalgam of goods and merchandise brought to the Holy City from the different corners of the earth: there was available a wide assortment of household items, furniture, textiles, functional and decorative objects, etc., which together formed a unique mixture, revealing through the things the Jerusalem people collected and used, the richness and diversity of their lives (2).

Talking about the exhibit “Jerusalem – Our Home,” Vera Tamari, the Museum’s director, said, “This is the first of a series of specialized exhibits on major Palestinian cities that the Ethnographic and Art Museum of Birzeit University is planning to hold as part of its specialized ethnographic exhibits.”

“Jerusalem – Our Home is a visual narration of selected aspects of Jerusalem life in the post World War One era and before the 1948 war. It exhibits personal belongings, photos, traditional apparel, furniture, craftworks and architectural designs that reflect the life style of that period, residents’ tastes and the accompanying social, intellectual and artistic practices,” Tamari added.

The Palestinian artist Vladimir Tamari, who lives in Tokyo, wrote a letter to his sister, fellow artist Vera Tamari, the Museum director, which was published in the booklet on “Jerusalem Lexicon of Colours” exhibit held in late July as part of the celebrations of Jerusalem – Capital of Arab Culture 2009. Vladimir wrote:

“I write under protest. I have escaped to the ends of the Earth, because, having lost the center of my world, I became free to roam, to float, to try to forget the unforgettable.  It is too painful to try as you asked me to reconstruct my days in Arab Jerusalem, AlQuds, or as we said it, Al’uds.”

“Although we were born in Jerusalem, we grew up in the windy freedom of Bireh and Ramallah, the twin towns nestled on hills and surrounded by villages. My very frequent visits to Jerusalem were a natural extension of our daily life.

“In my memories is a walk with my father through the alleys of the Old City, him pointing to a hole-in-the-wall door and telling me our ancestors had lived there, designing a ceramic panel of my Arabic lettering still there at the Church of the Redeemer.” (3)

Valuable collection:

If my brother, sister, uncle, friend and I fought for and with our ethnographic and artistic assets, we could have defeated our enemy and his guns. This is what my heart said when I saw the holy bread stamps, soap stamps and gilded incense cakes. Indeed, preserving this history and beauty, identifying with it and passing it from one generation to another is a weapon used by nations to increase their resilience in the face of disasters and war calamities.

Wondering in the exhibit, one instantly will be attracted by a collection of stamps that was used to stamp the holy bread in churches, which was called Ghirbniyyeh. This special bread was baked by the Christian peasants, who would make five loafs from flour which had been grinded seven times. The breads were then stamped with a rashem or stamp and were blessed by the priest in the church. Four of these loafs would be kept in the church, while the fifth will be returned to the house and distributed among family members. The items on display also include pieces of home-made soap that carry imprints of images of saints as well as images of holy places, including the Dome of the Rock. The incense cakes were equally stamped with images of saints and the Holy Family. (4)

Here your eyes keep looking right and left…

It is difficult to stop looking around when seeing the typical Ottoman-styled glazed pottery ware with dense floral patterns in blue, turquoise and green tones on a white background. Vera Tamari said, “The Palestinian pottery workshop, owned by the Balian family, has been producing exclusive hand painted ceramic tiles and pottery since 1922, when Nishan Balian with his partners, the Karkashians and Ohanissians, brought this decorative ceramic industry to Palestine.”

“This is the first of a kind museum. We hope it will be a nucleus for other cultural modes because culture remains largely marginalized and is in need of tremendous efforts, in spite of the progress made so far. It also needs to reach other segments of the society,” Vera noted.

 Welfare Association… a commitment to preserving and promoting heritage

The Ethnographic and Art Museum project is part of efforts to develop academic and research modules on arts and culture within the University. The project was preceded by the creation of the Virtual Gallery – a website specialized in Palestinian arts. The Museum is certain to have a positive impact on the almost 1,000 students and faculty in the University and serves to promote local and international contemporary arts.

Welfare Association has assisted the Museum based on its special interest in strengthening Palestinian identity and playing a lead role in the preservation, protection and development of the Palestinian cultural heritage.  

I left the Museum haunted by questions: How would those who lived that life think about what I have seen? Will the paintings call out to them or will the call come from them, to those outside?

Seeking out these voices, I walked back to my office at Welfare Association in order to start the story of Love and Revolution!

Written by: Marah Abdul-Hadi

Welfare Association, Ramallah

References:

1. Art and Culture in Birzeit University: Between Heritage and Modernity. A booklet issued by Birzeit University Ethnographic and Art Museum

2. Jerusalem Our Home Exhibit Booklet, issued by Birzeit University Ethnographic and Art Museum

3. Jerusalem Lexicon of Colors Exhibit Booklet, issued by the Palestinian Art Court – Al Hoash