Return of the Soul is a remarkable artwork - a sculpture of 3,000 wax
figures - marking the artist's journey, which began in a former Nazi
concentration camp in Poland, and via many UNRWA refugees camps, led
eventually to the pulverised ruins of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee
camp also run by UNRWA in Lebanon.
Scottish artist Jane Frere lived and worked with
Palestinian refugees to 'capture emotions', as she prepared her
installation, incorporating written and oral testimonies from victims of
the mass exodus of 1948, known as the Nakbah, or the catastrophe of the
ethnic cleansing of Palestine. In a co-production with the Palestinian Art
Court - Al Hoash, she involved hundreds of Palestinians in workshops
producing the wax figures which form part of the installation; the project
was achieved through close collaboration with the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency, the dedicated UN agency established to provide 'temporary'
support to homeless Palestinian refugees 60 years ago.
The Nakbah Project continues as the Nakbah continues.
Planning for the installation of Return of the Soul in
international venues during 2009 is being finalised now - particularly in
the hope of bringing a wider and better understanding of the context of
ongoing crisis for Palestinians in Gaza and indeed in the West Bank, as
well as UNRWA camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere. Curators
interested in more information please contact Jane Frere and the Nakbah
Project via: ReturnoftheSoul@gmail.com.
Exhibition diary
2008
May-June: Al Hoash Gallery, East Jerusalem
July-August: Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh
September-October: Shams Theatre, Beirut, Lebanon
October-January 22 2009: Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan
2009 dates tbc
The Nakbah Project
Installation process filmed over a week at Balad al Shams in Beirut
Return of the Soul
What the critics say:
"highlight
of the Edinburgh Art Festival" ArtDaily.com
"a most
poignant installation.........It is compelling art work that Frere achieved
with aplomb."Ica Wahbeh, Jordan Times
"A
metaphor for dispossession that works." Daily Star, Lebanon
Jane Frere designed the set for the play co-authored by Justin Butcher and Palestian Ahmed Masoud - Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea, The production is currently being performed at the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh.
