Displaced Roots brings together six contemporary Palestinian artists illustrating forced displacement and siege. This exhibition maps the ways in which they document lived trauma and preserve enduring memory. Torn canvases from under the rubble, pigments of tea and coffee, barbed wire, ink strokes, and other everyday life material become tools of expression for the exhibited artists. By transforming the fragments of everyday life into visual records, the exhibited artists refuse erasure and assert a presence that cannot be silenced.
In this exhibition, Mohamed Abusal’s torn, vibrant paperwork saved from his demolished studio documents a testimony of a historical moment of survival, serving as a visual archive. Maisara Baroud’s black-and-white ink drawings, originally posted online as frequent dispatches to prove he was safe, form his urgent series, I’m Still Alive. This series then inspired extended artworks produced as art books to unfold through a visual sequence rather than a single scene. Raed Issa transforms tea and coffee residues into haunting portraits, turning everyday materials into tools of survival and endurance. His artwork reflects a deep need to document personal and collective experiences. Reflecting on his family’s displacement, Mohammed Joha captures the intensity of that moment; the desperate need to salvage everything one holds dear, carrying the fragments of one’s life and the weight of one’s home. Abdelrahman Katanani replaces originally soft textiles with sharp, border-inspired barbed wire, including rusty metal, to weave carpets that disrupt comfort and safety. Finally, Khaled Hourani documents the systematic uprooting of trees in Gaza and across Palestine. As enduring symbols of Palestinian identity, trees intertwine with other national symbols and elements to express resilience and belonging.
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