Sour Cords

A series of suspended ceramic objects. Sun-drying is, like fermentation, an age-old practice of food preservation.

Here the artist has strung together giant ceramic chili peppers, okra, garlic, and cloves. Known for their medicinal and favourable properties—anti-inflammatory for garlic and chili; cloves for good luck and prosperity—there is an aspect of (self-)healing to this work.

Food is as strongly political, as it is personal, which can be seen in the self-referential introduction of okra: Bamieh means okra in Arabic.

Each colourful larger-than-life sculpture is, in fact, a morsel of grief, an outrage, a witness, a story, and a thin sliver of hope.

Some chilis and okras are decorated with childlike drawings of suns, stick men, flowers, and blocky houses, all referring to family and home. Others show huge eyes—eyewitnesses, with multiple fingers protruding from them, rising as towers, as if they were offering some sort of talismanic protection against the ongoing brutality in Palestine, or for that matter, elsewhere.

Colossal bulbs of garlic feature an ominous text by the late Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine’s national poet:“You will be forgotten as if you never existed.” These ceramic objects exude so much pain and trauma, and yet their grotesque size and vibrant presence refuse any form of retreat. The artistfinds defiance, solace, and ultimately, a horizon, in food.

By Nat Muller, from Sour Things curatorial statement.

Drawings and ceramics produced NIKA Project Space, for Sour Things Solo show at NIKAParis. 
September 8- October 27 2024