Presented at Art Berlin art fair, ‘The Everlasting Presence of an Excluded Memory’ was the solo exhibition of Hazem Harb composed of a selection of abstract collages on canvas that lend new meaning to archival materials sourced from his native Palestine.
An avid collector of memorabilia that dates back to the years before and during the British rule (1917 – 1948), Harb sources film posters, coins, letters, and pre-Nakba maps with the aim of reawakening and reaffirming the collective memories of his country. The artist overlaps these materials with enlarged black and white photographs detailing previously unseen fragments from Palestinian history. Harb re-frames these historical elements in a contemporary context using jarring colored acrylic panels to isolate a particular segment of the image. His aim is to create a visual link between the present day and challenge what Harb describes as the political‘exclusion of memories’ from Palestine’s past, opening up a new cultural dialogue surrounding the memory and identity of his people.
