This summer, Art Dubai is introducing a group of emerging artists based in Palestine in a series of short videos, weaving together stories, voices and cultural perspectives. Watch as Yazan Abu Salameh, Reem Natsheh, Mahdi Baraghithi and Rana Samara discuss their work and inspiration.

Mahdi Baraghithi

Mahdi Baraghithi works across a range of media including performance, installation, and collage. He explores and deconstructs the representation of masculinity and the male body in Arab societies, specifically in his own context of Palestine through his use of materials, such as found images and readymade objects.

Delving into the notions of the body, home, and the mundane through the manipulation of found images and texts, Baraghithi deconstructs images of the Arab man found in popular, national, and religious culture shedding light onto the different frameworks of social and political stereotypes inscribed onto the body, which contour definitions of manhood and acceptable forms of masculinity in society.

Reem Natsheh

Inspired by imagination, visual memory and primitive art, Hebron-born artist Reem Natsheh works with undefined elements and external distortions to suppress individual identity in her work, whilst combining all of the individual components into a compelling whole.

Natsheh’s artworks revive mythological and traditional stories which are related to the Arab Palestinian culture in a contemporary context. Usually, the story represents worlds characterised by strangeness and excessive wonder.

Yazan Abu Salameh

Inspired by imagination, visual memory and primitive art, Hebron-born artist Reem Natsheh works with undefined elements and external distortions to suppress individual identity in her work, whilst combining all of the individual components into a compelling whole.

Natsheh’s artworks revive mythological and traditional stories which are related to the Arab Palestinian culture in a contemporary context. Usually, the story represents worlds characterised by strangeness and excessive wonder.

Rana Samara

Growing up in what she refers to as a typical Palestinian family, Rana Samara’s practice has been heavily influenced by this and her observations of the roles women play. Through her work, Samara explores societal norms, sexuality, gender roles and other factors associated with modern Palestinian life, focusing on the less obvious ones that underpin daily life. She takes a particular focus on women, usually those who reside in more rural communities or overcrowded refugee camps, and those who continue to be blighted by both conservative traditions and the exigencies of life under occupation. She demystifies social taboos and translates them into large, bold, colourful canvases that are both social statements and artistic constructs.