EKKM exhibition presents collective imagination as resistance

An international group exhibition exploring Palestinian identity through artists’ personal stories and memories opened Friday at the Estonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Tallinn. ERR reported that curator Evelyn Raudsepp sees collective imagination as a possible form of resistance to political reality.

The exhibition, titled “We have land from words,” features internationally known artists including Mona Hatoum and Larissa Sansour. Their accounts of family and friends bring out what Raudsepp described as a difficult reality and a complex political situation.

“International foreign policy at the global level can seem so far removed from individual people,” Raudsepp said. “There is a feeling of helplessness, that you cannot do anything. Art and culture have an important role here: to make sense of the situation and the society we live in, and to think a little beyond reality.”

The title comes from Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who visited Estonia in the 1970s. The exhibition also draws links between Palestine and Estonia, including occupied land, survival and the coexistence of a multi-ethnic community.

Estonia-based artist Denes Farkas contributed a picture collage made from photographs taken in Israel and Lebanon. Images of Israeli mountains date from his youth, when he travelled to Tel Aviv with a choir. His series focuses on nostalgia and memory.

The exhibition will remain at the museum until early December, with discussion events and music evenings planned alongside it.