Chrisoula Lionis is a researcher and curator based in Sydney and Athens. She teaches at UNSW Art & Design (UNSW Australia) and is Curator of the Palestinian Film Festival in Australia.
This impressively happy-sad book tracks the development of artistic practices by Palestinians in their homeland and in exile. It is an ambitious book drawn from deep engagement and is testament to a kind of familiarity with ones subject that is indeed very rare. The reading of works by Mona Hatoum, Raeda Saadeh and Emily Jacir is among the best I have seen. This book contains the bittersweet wisdom of a painful but uplifting joke spread it around!
Nikos Papastergiadis, Professor, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
This book is a must-read for anyone interested in humour and/or the history of the Middle East conflict.
Sharif Kanaana, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Birzeit University
Lionis offers a marvellous introduction to the way Palestinian art and cinema reflect the shifting dynamics of Palestinian politics, Rich examples reflect on how laughter in the face of trauma and political disappointment can actually sustain hope and solidarity.
Lila Abu-Lughod, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University
Laughter in Occupied Palestine
Comedy and Identity in Art and Film
Chrisoula Lionis
National Institute for Experimental Arts
Published in 2016 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London New York
www.ibtauris.com
Copyright 2016 Chrisoula Lionis
The right of Chrisoula Lionis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.
References to websites were correct at the time of writing.
International Library of Visual Culture 22
ISBN: 978 1 78453 288 8
eISBN: 978 0 85772 979 8
epdf: 978 0 85772 781 7
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available
In memory of my father Dennis Lionis and for all those who find laughter through tears.
Contents
General Union of the Palestinian Students (GUPS), Anniversary of Al-Karameh Battle, Poster, 1969
Sliman Mansour, Camel of Hardships, Oil on Canvas, 1973
Mona Hatoum, Socle du Monde, Sculpture, 19921993
Michel Khleifi, Wedding in Galilee, Film Still, 1987
Oslo Accords Signing Ceremony, Press Photograph, 1993
Areen Omari, First Lesson, Film Still, 2010
Larissa Sansour, Space Exodus, Video Still, 2009
Larissa Sansour, Nation Estate, Video Still, 2012
Amer Shomali, Post Visit Palestine, Silkscreen Print, 2009
Khaled Hourani, No News from Palestine, 2007
Taysir Batniji, Watchtowers, Photographic Series, 2008
Raeda Saadeh, Vacuum, Video Still, 2007
Sharif Waked, Beace Brocess, Video Still, 2010
Khaled Jarrar, The State of Palestine, Stamp, 20112012
Khalil Rabah, The 3rd Annual Wall Zone Auction, Video, 2004
Elia Suleiman, Divine Intervention, Film Still, 2002
Sharif Waked, Chic Point, Video Still, 2003
Taysir Batniji, GH0809, Installation, 2010
Tarzan and Arab, Autumn Clouds from the Gazawood Project, 2010
Emily Jacir, SEXY SEMITE, 20002002: documentation of an intervention, Personal Advertisements, 20002002
Khaled Hourani, Watermelon, Digital Print, 2007
Sharif Waked, To Be Continued, Video Still, 2009
Picasso in Palestine, Installation View, 2011
This book would not be possible were it not for the laughter, generosity and sumud I have found in Palestine. My thanks first and foremost to all the anonymous Palestinian pranksters who have incited and shared laughter that defies darkness.
I am grateful to many friends and colleagues for their support and discussions that contributed to this book. I wish to extend special thanks to David McNeill for being a constant source of light through his unwavering enthusiasm as both friend and PhD supervisor. To my colleagues and friends Uro voro, Philip George and Veronica Tello for their cheekiness, persistence and constant support. My thanks to Assad Abdi for his self-effacing encouragement and above all his steadfast pessoptimism.
This book began as a PhD project completed through the National Institute for Experimental Arts at UNSW Art & Design. I am grateful for the dynamism, opportunities and mentorship of Jill Bennett over the years and for the continual support and advice offered by Jennifer Biddle throughout the PhD. I also thank the UNSW Art & Design Faculty for supporting the Beyond the Last Sky exhibition and symposium that were crucial to the development of this project as well as their funding of several travel grants for research trips to Palestine.
Many of the ideas cultivated in this book came through my work as a curator working both on the Beyond the Last Sky exhibition at the Australian Centre for Photography and the Palestinian Film Festival in Australia. I would like to thank the ACP and its staff for their dedication to the project. I also would like to thank the Cultural Media Organisation and in particular Naser Shakhtour and Mia Zahra for their tireless efforts on the Palestinian Film Festival alongside their patience through years of debate, far too many long nights and drawn out coffee dates.
I am grateful to I.B.Tauris for believing in this project and for offering the opportunity to turn my research into a book. I would like to extend thanks to Lisa Goodrum and the visual culture editors Philippa Brewster, Baillie Card and Anna Coatman for their insight, advice and commitment to the project. I also wish to extend a special thanks to my copyeditor Lisa Mulholland for her creativity, attention to detail and ability to always appreciate a joke.
I have been privileged to have the encouragement and support of Nikos Papastergiadis, Lila Abu-Lughod and Sharif Kanaana on this project. I thank you all for producing inspiring and influential work and for your generous and astute advice on this project.
To artist Khaled Hourani thank you for making me laugh equally in both art and in life and for your endless low-fives. I am so grateful for your insight and support, and for taking the time to contribute to this project through the preface. My thanks also to Ala Hourani for his enthusiasm and generosity in working to translate the preface of this book.
