The Next Step

SO

i did it

i finally left the comforts and delicious eats of the middle east,
the road has been long, and at times arduous,
still, at other times easy and sweet

but every step i've taken has helped me to take the one yet to come
whether it is immediately apparent or not
all lessons have led to NOW.

VANISHING LANDSCAPES

Benji Boy has been a Busy Beee. By which I mean he has spent countless hours sitting and painting all over the valley just below where we are living, and where he grew up roaming around. 

Wadi Shami, is one of many military restriction zones separating the Israel from the Palestinian Territories. Funny thing is, this conflict, this military restriction on building and occupation, is the only thing keeping the valley and the heritage it contains intact. Saving it from the bulldozing site clearing tactics of the Palestinians and the Ultra-development takeover tactics implemented by Israel.

VANISHING LANDSCAPES 

Benji Boyadgian

Bethlehem, September 2010

The focus of this exhibition is to address the destruction of the traditional landscape and heritage. The images hang solemnly on the gallery walls, a re-memory of a heritage on the edge of disappearance. The selection depicts the experience of a single valley, but can be seen as a lens to understand a situation occurring in many valleys and hilltops throughout the country. The landscape is subdued and transformed by many forces; territorial war, demographic growth, and none or bad urban planning, etc.

These paintings are “in-situ” depictions of Wad el Shami and the remnants of a traditional relationship to the land and its inherent morphology. They are fragments of “vanishing landscapes,” and a vernacular knowledge that survived centuries and is now subjected to destruction and neglect.

for purchasing info, contact Benji at: benji.boyadgian@yahoo.com

SALLAHM

All war, hatred, racism, oppression and terror aside (i know that that is a lot to put aside, especially given the context but just bare with me a minute...)

Both sides are fucking up in big ways with regards to the landscape and environment

Seems to me that all the fighting is about the land

In this us vs. them battle, the land has become nothing but a pawn, a concept, a strategy in this struggle.

forgetting the true importance of why this place is so special, removed from its physicality, cultural importance and connection to season and agriculture.

ours, not theirs is the rhetoric from wherever you're standing. 

looking from hill to hill

looking from jew to arab

looking from arab to jew

I wish it were that easy to explain.

"hey everyone, we all love this land, can't we just share it! treat her kindly and continue practicing our rituals with tolerance and patience!"

I'm pretty sure the concept (the words exist) of patience doesn't directly translate into hebrew or arabic. 

hahaha

here are some drawings I hung in Benji's Vanishing Landscapes exhibition. A visual commentary on contemporary land occupation strategies of Israel and Palestine. Hung as a triptych using our view from Abu Fahkris Lab as direct inspiration. Har Homa (Israeli settlement) on the left, No Mans Land (where we live) middle, the Agglomeration of Bethlehem (Palestine) on the right.

(click to images to enlarge)

EXHIBITION

This is a part of the urban study work done for the Vanishing Landscapes Exhibition (Bethlehem, September, 2010). 

Following the implementation of the 1993 Oslo accords, the agglomeration of Bethlehem expanded drastically within restricted boundaries (Zone A,B), consequently devouring the traditional landscape in the vicinity. The physical destruction inflicted by the contemporary building modes is also degrading the heritage of a seasonal life-cycle, connectivity/identity to place. 

(click on maps to enlarge)

INTRODUCING...

the newest squatter of Team Abu Fahkri, 

RUEFUSS...

met him one day when he snuck into the house

gave him some milk and we played games

he showed up in the evenings to get some food and kick it

you know, play with string, get some ear scratch lovin

he even came by to help plant the garden 

and snag some lizards

haven't seen him in a few days

he is an independent kitty

but maybe he just got fattened up and bounced

or that shifty one eared cat chased him out of bounds

either way there's a mouse in the house and we could use his help

come home Ruefuss

earn ya keep

<3

Birfday Best

another revolution completed, and, wow, i could not have done it alone

please pass the message on to people i missed or didn't have the address for (specifically mikey, gary-san, and extended famo)

i hope this note finds you in good health and high spirits, 

and although i may be thousands of miles away

across oceans and continents,

valleys and mountains,

i keep you all close to my heart always,

keep on,

[s][a][m]

http://callofthezula.blogspot.com/ 

to the mentors, teachers, elders, experts

to those who helped me and those i have helped 

to friends, peers, students

to bicycles, adventurers, vagrants, intellectuals

to story tellers, musicians, artists, architects and craftspeoples

to farmers, bakers, cooks

to sisters, brothers, aunts, cousins, uncles

to our mothers, extended mothers, and grand mothers

to our mother whose firm surface we ride and sweet fruits we eat

to our fathers who planted the seeds

to the great big sky, everything under and beyond

to the waters, moon and tide

to the winds, rains, sun and season

thank you for your patient guidance

thank you for the fruits of our labors

thank you

(שנה טובה to the members of the tribe, a happy, healthy and sweet new your to you)

HAMSA

requested by my moma

but, made with love for all the momas