Subjective Atlas of Palestine & Watermelon Flag
Disarming design from Palestine is een onafhankelijk non-profit project dat tot nadenken stemmende ontwerpen uit Palestina stimuleert. Het zijn bruikbare voorwerpen die stuk voor stuk een uniek verhaal met zich meedragen.
Kunsthal Gent biedt het boek ‘Subjective Atlas of Palestine’ de Watermelon Flag (Khaled Hourani) van Disarming Desing te koop aan. Verkrijgbaar via onze ticketbalie, altijd open is op zaterdag en zondag van 11:00 tot 18:00. De opbrengst uit deze verkoop gaat integraal naar Disarming Design.
Disarming design from Palestine is an independent non-profit project fostering thought-provoking designs from Palestine. They are useful objects, and each one of them carries a unique story.
Disarming Design from Palestine (DDFP) is an independent non-profit platform performing as a design label. We foster thought-provoking and disarming designs from Palestine. With a focus on artisanal products created in conscious and integrated ways, the items speak of the reality they are manufactured in. Often rooted in a story or incident encountered in day-to-day life across occupied Palestine, the designs perform as cultural objects and conversation starters in homes, exhibitions, symposia, academia, media and other places of learning. Based in Belgium, we resist the dehumanisation of Palestinians and center Palestinian voices to amplify them. How can design contribute to international solidarity and justice for the Palestinian struggle for liberation and self-determination?
Sublime landscapes, tranquil urban scenes, frolicking children; who would associate these images with Palestine? More than 30 Palestinian artists, photographers and designers were invited to map their country as they see it. Given their closeness to the subject, this has resulted in unconventional, very human impressions of the landscape and the architecture, the cuisine, the music and the poetry of thought and expression. The contributions give an entirely different angle on a nation in occupied territory.
In this subjective atlas it is the Palestinians themselves who show the disarming reverse side of the black-and-white image generally resorted to by the media.
Design
Production
2012
English
Softcover book, full color, 160 p.
16.5 x 22 cm
Following the 1967 Six Day, the Israeli military forces unilaterally criminalised the flag of Palestine — and Palestinians were forbidden to use its colours of white, red, green and black in imagery and art. In 1980, Israeli forces arrested three artists at a gallery in Ramallah for violating this military order. To which artist Issam Badr responded: “Well if I paint a flower with these colours, what will you do?” And the officer responded: “It would be confiscated. Even if you do a watermelon it will be confiscated.” Then actually, the watermelon became a symbol of Palestinian resistance.
After the Oslo accords in 1993, the order was not completely revoked, neither has the Israeli occupation of Palestine ended. Artist Khaled Hourani borrowed from this officer the idea for the ‘Watermelon flag’, not to admire his ill imagination, but to commemorate the legacy of resistance to the prohibition of the Palestinian flag. Hourani originally made the design for the Subjective Atlas of Palestine in 2007, to then wave it at many exhibitions worldwide. During the 2021 Palestinian uprisings, the flag has been produced as an effective alternative flag, to wave until the occupation ends.
Design
Production
Size regular: 100 x 70 cm
Size large: 180 x 120 cm
Material: 115gr., 100% recycled polyester
