The Sabar-Tzabar Series 2019

1948 marks the Israeli War of Independence and the Palestinian Nakba - catastrophe.

418 Palestinian villages had been emptied and destroyed in 1948, according to the Palestinian historian, Walid Khalidi (Khalidi, 1992, All that remains, in Noga Kadman, 2008, Erased from Space and Consciousness). 

The Sabar (Arabic صبار) Tzabar (Hebrew צבר) Opuntia or as it is known, Prickly pear had been used by Palestinians to mark the boundaries of their fields, among others usages. However, after 1948 it became a symbol for the Israeli men and women ("prickly on the outside, sweet on the inside") while ignoring the Palestinian context. 

Echoes a Sabar-Tzabar leaf each drawing is dedicated to a Palestinian village that got destroyed as a kind of memorial monument. 

1948 - מסמלת את מלחמת העמצאות של ישראל ובו-זמנית את הנכבה - הקטסטרופה של הפלסטינים.

418 - כפרים פלסטינים התרוקנו ונהרסו בשנת 1948, על-פי ההסטוריון הפלסטיני וליד ח'אלידי

 (1992 ח'אלידי)  

 2008 ,מתוך ספרה של נגה קדמן, בצידי הדרך ובשולי התודעה

 צמח הצבר - סאבאר שימש כגבול בין שדות בחברה הפלסטינית אולם עם קום המדינה הפך לסמל את הישראלי: "מחוספס 

ועוקצני מבחוץ אך מתוק מבפנים", תוך התעלמות מהקשרו הפלסטיני

בהשראת צורת הצמח המיוחדת כל רישום מוקדש לאחד מ-418 הכפרים כמעין מצבת זכרון

السنبرية 5

al-Sanbariyya

א-סנבריה

الخصاص 6

al-Khisas

אל-ח'צאץ

https://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/al-Khisas/Picture84165.html

المنشية 7

al-Manshiyya

אל-מנשיה

هونين 8

Hunin

הונין

المنصورة 9

al-Mansura

אל-מנצורה

الزوق التحتاني 10-11

al-Zuq al-Tahtani

א-זוק א-תחתאני

الخالصة

al-Khalisa

אל-ח'אלצה

The Sabar-Tzabar Series 2019

1948 marks the Israeli War of Independence and the Palestinian Nakba - catastrophe.

418 Palestinian villages had been emptied and destroyed in 1948, according to the Palestinian historian, Walid Khalidi (Khalidi, 1992, All that remains, in Noga Kadman, 2008, Erased from Space and Consciousness). 

The Sabar (Arabic صبار) Tzabar (Hebrew צבר) Opuntia or as it is known, Prickly pear had been used by Palestinians to mark the boundaries of their fields, among others usages. However, after 1948 it became a symbol for the Israeli men and women ("prickly on the outside, sweet on the inside") while ignoring the Palestinian context. 

Echoes a Sabar-Tzabar leaf each drawing is dedicated to a Palestinian village that got destroyed as a kind of memorial monument. 

1948 - מסמלת את מלחמת העמצאות של ישראל ובו-זמנית את הנכבה - הקטסטרופה של הפלסטינים.

418 - כפרים פלסטינים התרוקנו ונהרסו בשנת 1948, על-פי ההסטוריון הפלסטיני וליד ח'אלידי

 (1992 ח'אלידי)  

 2008 ,מתוך ספרה של נגה קדמן, בצידי הדרך ובשולי התודעה

 צמח הצבר - סאבאר שימש כגבול בין שדות בחברה הפלסטינית אולם עם קום המדינה הפך לסמל את הישראלי: "מחוספס 

ועוקצני מבחוץ אך מתוק מבפנים", תוך התעלמות מהקשרו הפלסטיני

בהשראת צורת הצמח המיוחדת כל רישום מוקדש לאחד מ-418 הכפרים כמעין מצבת זכרון

الزوق الفوقاني 2

al-Zuq al-Fawqani

(זוק אל-פוקאני (א

https://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/al-Zuq-al-Fawqani/Picture84432.html

خان الدوير 3

Khan al-Duwayr

ח'אן א-דויר

الشوكة التحتا 4

al-Shawka al-Tahta

א-שוכה א-תחתא

The Sabar-Tzabar Series 2019

Sabar-Tzabar, Graphite powder, plastic glue and silver pen, 2013

1948 marks the Israeli War of Independence and the Palestinian Nakba - catastrophe.

418 Palestinian villages had been emptied and destroyed in 1948, according to the Palestinian historian, Walid Khalidi (Khalidi, 1992, All that remains, in Noga Kadman, 2008, Erased from Space and Consciousness). 

The Sabar (Arabic صبار) Tzabar (Hebrew צבר) Opuntia or as it is known, Prickly pear had been used by Palestinians to mark the boundaries of their fields, among others usages. However, after 1948 it became a symbol for the Israeli men and women ("prickly on the outside, sweet on the inside") while ignoring the Palestinian context. 

Echoes a Sabar-Tzabar leaf each drawing is dedicated to a Palestinian village that got destroyed as a kind of memorial monument. 

1948 - מסמלת את מלחמת העמצאות של ישראל ובו-זמנית את הנכבה - הקטסטרופה של הפלסטינים.

418 - כפרים פלסטינים התרוקנו ונהרסו בשנת 1948, על-פי ההסטוריון הפלסטיני וליד ח'אלידי

 (1992 ח'אלידי)  

 2008 ,מתוך ספרה של נגה קדמן, בצידי הדרך ובשולי התודעה

 צמח הצבר - סאבאר שימש כגבול בין שדות בחברה הפלסטינית אולם עם קום המדינה הפך לסמל את הישראלי: "מחוספס 

ועוקצני מבחוץ אך מתוק מבפנים", תוך התעלמות מהקשרו הפלסטיני

בהשראת צורת הצמח המיוחדת כל רישום מוקדש לאחד מ-418 הכפרים כמעין מצבת זכרון

آبل القمح 1

Abil al-Qamh 

  אביל אל-קמח

Graphite powder and plastic glue

New Drawing Experiments

https://youtu.be/UehFk8j8nvw
Performing The Drawing, Video clip, 2019

Graphite powder, Latex, Paper

 Performing The Drawing 2019, Framed

https://youtu.be/fP1I7g9s51Y
Toward A Maternal Gri-hi-hi-hi-id, 2019

Graphite powder and Latex

https://youtu.be/o6rfpSNIqII
Drawing Surfaces, 2019

Graphite powder, plastic glue, threads

The dialectics of reason and the dialectics of imagination

Gaston Bachelard writes:

Here we can grasp the difference between the dialectics of reason, which juxtaposes contradictions in order to cover the entire range of possibilities, and the dialectics of imagination, which would seize all that is real, and finds more reality in what is hidden than in what is visible.

Bachelard, G. (2005). On Poetic Imagination and Reverie, p. 8. Putnam CT (USA): Spring Publications, Inc.

Drawings from my sketchbook May 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Comfiliation I, Permanent Ink Marker on paper

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Comfiliation II, Permanent Ink Marker on paper

Gaza-Israel May 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Gaza-Israel 2019, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Gaza-Israel 2019 - work-in-progress, detail, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Gaza-Israel 2019 - detail 1, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Gaza-Israel 2019 - work-in-progress, detail 2, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Gaza-Israel 2019 - work-in-progress, detail 3, Pen on Paper, 2019

Now that everything is yet again exploding, injuring, destroying/ now that the fear's becoming solid, liquid, thick, drowning/ now that everything is already too late/ now we too are too late.

עכשיו כשהכל שוב גועש, פוגע, הורס/ עכשיו כשהפחד מתמצק, נוזל, סמיך, מטביע/ עכשיו כשהכל כבר מאוחר מידי/ עכשיו גם אנחנו מאוחר מידי. 

Drawings from my sketchbook May 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Back-Front, Pen on Paper, 2019 

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Back-Front 1, Pen on Paper, 2019 

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Back-Front Soldier and Shadow, Pen on Paper, 2019 

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Back-Front Soldier and Shadow 1, Pen on Paper, 2019 

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Home, Pen on Paper, 2019 

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Home - detail, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Pregnancy, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Pregnancy - detail, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Pregnancy - detail 1, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Pregnancy - detail 2, Pen on Paper, 2019

Yonat Nitzan-Green, Pregnancy - detail 3, Pen on Paper, 2019

The historian of promise, 2019

Stress Trim

hand and drawing sensing warmth Trim 2

Birth

'The historian of promise - mother and child' 2019

Soldiers

‘The capacity to become “numb” and partially robotic during combat … allows the soldier to continue to function effectively without panic.’ p. 51.

Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, and Maia Szalavitz, The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, 2017.

‘In extreme dissociative experience … the person becomes completely focused inward and disconnected from reality. Brain regions that dominate thinking shift from planning action to concerning themselves with brute survival. There is a sense that time has slowed and what’s happening isn’t “real”. Breathing slows. Pain and even fear shut down. People often report feeling emotionless and numb, as though they are watching what’s happening to them affect a character in a movie.’ Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, and Maia Szalavitz, The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, 2017. pp. 50-51. 

‘And if these patterns are activated repeatedly long enough, due to the intensity, duration, or pattern of the trauma, there will be “use – dependent” changes in the neural systems that mediate these responses. The result is that these systems can become overactive and sensitized, leading to a host of emotional, behavioural, and cognitive problems long after the traumatic event is over.’ Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, and Maia Szalavitz, The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, 2017. pp. 50-51. p. 51. 

ima - 'The historian of promise', paintings and the imagination of maternal subjectivity

YNG, Road's Gaze, Oil on canvas, 2015

YNG, Stones' Gaze, Oil on canvas, 2015

The gaze comes from within the stone and the road. It is not the road that is being depicted but its imaginary gaze that ‘sees’ itself and the world from its inside. The lines in these paintings are similarly so. They are not the ‘perfect’ lines as in Matisse’s drawings. Rather, they are drawn as they are from the inside: wet, leaking, un-stable, coming out in different quantities. Lines that emerge from their own inside.

This imagination – material imagination – comes not only from Gaston Bachelard’s conceptualization, but also, and especially, from the experiences of pregnancy, birth and bringing up and caring for children. It is these maternal experiences that re-wired and gave birth to new neurons in our body and brain. This imagination, this ‘maternal imagination’ enables to ‘see’ inside things, from their points of view, where seeing involves all the senses working together. Inhale – exhale. Inhale – exhale. 

ima - 'The historian of promise' and the paintings

In the performative drawing the sieve acts like a camera that captures objects while dismantles the drawing tool – the chalk. As the image is being built the tool is being taken apart. The concept ‘taken apart’ (or dismantled) takes a new meaning: it isn’t an action that leads only to disappearance; rather, it is an action that leads to the appearance of new shapes while changing the physical state. From solid to powder, from hard to soft, from unified to dispersion.

  

  

I am taken by surprise as suddenly I look up at my two paintings, Stone’s Gaze and Road’s Gaze (2015) and see the image of chalk-stones almost being mirrored. At the time of their making I was thinking of stones as a weapon, in reference to the image of Samakh, a Palestinian town that got destroyed in 1948, and to the two Palestinian Intifadas – uprisings (1987 – 1993 and 2000 - 2005).  

YNG, Stones' Gaze (right) and Road's Gaze (left), Oil on canvas, 2015

ima - 'The historian of promise - Some more thoughts about the creative flow

‘Even in utero and after birth, for every moment of every day, our brain is processing the nonstop set of incoming signals from our senses. Sight, sound, touch, smell, taste – all of the raw sensory data that will result in these sensations enter the lower parts of the brain and begin a multistage process of being categorized, compared to previously stored patterns, and ultimately, if necessary, acted upon.’ Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, and Maia Szalavitz, The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, 2017, p. 46.

The quote above connects with the creative flow that was experienced in the performative drawing, The historian of promise (12 – 18.1.2019). I call ‘creative flow’ this process of constant sensual absorption. 

I connect with this flow using spontaneously and improvisationaly chalk, natural chalk-stones, sieves of different sizes, a hammer, strings, threads, stencils, ruler and more. While these tools are accessible and familiar they are being taken out of their usual context. For example, there is a hammer but no wood or nails, nor a broken object to be fixed.  This mis-use of tools stimulates the imagination.

This performative drawing creates a connection with childhood, particularly, the un-mediated material exploration of one’s self and his/her relation with the world through drawing and painting. Immersed in this creative flow the child collaborated and participated with all her senses.

why is there a desire to return to this open sensual state of being as in childhood? Perhaps it emerges from a need to ‘fill the batteries’, to renew one's energy, to be empowered, to reinforce one’s belief in life, to seek encouragement, even comfort. Perhaps it is a need to return to a multi-layered thinking process which involves words and materials?