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| Artwork by Manal Deeb |
Excerpts from this blog entry were written by Dagmar Painter. They are included here with the permission of artist Manal Deeb. All rights reserved.
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| Artist Manal Deeb |
Manal Deeb is an Arab American artist based out of the Washington DC area. She was born in 1968 in Ramallah and then moved to the United States in 1986.
Manal studied studio arts at the University of Illinois in Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in the psychology of art from George Mason University in Virginia. She was the second in a series of three women artists featured at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery this past spring and she has had many solo and group exhibits in DC, Chicago, NYC, Boston & Dallas.
Manal's work presents many identities that are indistinguishable. Each identity has the same apparent memories and perceives identical surroundings, while believing, with evidence, to be representing the real self and the actual memories.
Artist Manal Deeb Is FROM THERE
Paintings by Palestinian-American artist Manal Deeb. White—like the clouds of her reflections, as she explores her Palestinian origin, persistent memories of where she comes from and whom she has become. Born in Ramallah, Deeb grew up under Israeli occupation until she moved to the United States in 1986.
Collaging images, graphics, paint and even tree bark onto her highly textured surfaces, Deeb's paintings are layered like peeling posters on the walls of recollection. In some cases, words from the Qur'an are incorporated to capture the wisdom and power of the verses and to communicate their imaginative energy. Each painting follows a narrative arc in the rhythm of the brushstrokes and the overlaid elements, telling a story about how memories become reality, and how to preserve heritage through art. Pieces of tree bark evoke her childhood play time around the almond and fig trees of her homeland. All the incorporated materials become sacred talismans in the narrative of identity.
Deeb paired her paintings with the lyrical poems of Iyad Hayatleh, a Palestinian poet living in Scotland. An excerpt accompanying the painting "FROM THERE":
There—far away
where the sky, just a bow's length from a sigh,
overshadows the roofs of the houses
born out of tents
as it dries the tears of old women
who weep for the warmth of home they left—
which remain on their eyelashes
wherever they dwell, wherever they go….
"Delirious In Exile"
Paintings by Palestinian-American artist Manal Deeb. White—like the clouds of her reflections, as she explores her Palestinian origin, persistent memories of where she comes from and whom she has become. Born in Ramallah, Deeb grew up under Israeli occupation until she moved to the United States in 1986.
Collaging images, graphics, paint and even tree bark onto her highly textured surfaces, Deeb's paintings are layered like peeling posters on the walls of recollection. In some cases, words from the Qur'an are incorporated to capture the wisdom and power of the verses and to communicate their imaginative energy. Each painting follows a narrative arc in the rhythm of the brushstrokes and the overlaid elements, telling a story about how memories become reality, and how to preserve heritage through art. Pieces of tree bark evoke her childhood play time around the almond and fig trees of her homeland. All the incorporated materials become sacred talismans in the narrative of identity.
Deeb paired her paintings with the lyrical poems of Iyad Hayatleh, a Palestinian poet living in Scotland. An excerpt accompanying the painting "FROM THERE":
There—far away
where the sky, just a bow's length from a sigh,
overshadows the roofs of the houses
born out of tents
as it dries the tears of old women
who weep for the warmth of home they left—
which remain on their eyelashes
wherever they dwell, wherever they go….
"Delirious In Exile"
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| "Delirious in Exile" by Manal Deeb |
The painting above was accompanied by a poem about the anguish of longing for home by Iyad Hayatleh. Deeb's skillful handling of the pictorial elements enables her to become both painter and storyteller. Manal Deeb's eBook is featured on her web site and combines poems written by Iyad Hayatleh with Manal’s artwork and music.http://youtu.be/ZiA5f08nTrQ
For more info see Manal Deeb's web site at http://www.manaldeeb.com/
