Ensemble

Khalil Rabah is a conceptual artist whose work critically examines the politics of representation, heritage and displacement. Drawing on the tools and aesthetics of museology, archival systems and institutional display, Rabah constructs speculative frameworks that question how histories are written and how knowledge is shaped by power. A central component of his practice is the ongoing project The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind – a fictional institution that operates as both artwork and critique. Through this and related works, Rabah explores the erasure and fabrication of narratives within colonial and postcolonial contexts, particularly in relation to Palestine.

Evidence is an installation that reflects on the olive tree as both a living organism and a symbol of rootedness, resilience and displacement. At its centre is an engraved marble plate, depicting either the roots or the branches of the olive tree tree – depending on the viewer’s position – inviting a shifting perspective of belonging and loss. Testimonies features 80 delicate oil pastels on paper of severed olive tree trunks that appear almost anatomical, rendered as organic remnants. Together, these elements speak to cycles of growth and destruction, and the olive tree’s enduring cultural, political and ecological presence.

we refuse_d is produced by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, on the occasion of their 15th anniversary, and presented in partnership with M HKA.
Curated by Nadia Radwan and Vasıf Kortun.