Photographs from Palestine taken by Emily Jacir were recently on display at SFMOMA as part of an exhibit about passages and memory called Passageworks (October 25, 2008 - January 19, 2009 ). The title of the photo display was “Where We Come From” and it's a representation of interviews the artist did with Palestinians in the Diaspora and Palestine. Jacir asked her interviewers to answer the question “if I could do anything for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?” Jacir's works was acquired last year by SFMOMA and will likely be shown again in the near future.

The wishes are mixed and Jacir follows them and takes pictures of the objects of their desire. In one she is asked to water a tree in village that had been demolished in the Nakba of 1948. In another she is asked by a Palestinian refugee to light a candle in Haifa, the town from which the person’s family was exiled. Some requests do not stop at a symbolic act, and the subject asks Jacir to do basic things such as paying the gas bill or visiting a love one; things that are impossible for those living under the Israeli apartheid rule.

Emily Jacir is a Palestinian artist that uses different media to make her art. Since 1999 she has been involve in building the Ramallah's art scene and creating the Birzeit's Virtual Art Gallery. Emily has been active in fighting to end the Israeli occupation through art and writing, and has called for a boycott of all Israeli art institution. Read more

Ali La Pointe and Zena's words on the New York streets | A Tale of Two Sisters: Witnessing an Undercover Israeli Operation in Ramallah (2) | Photostory: Retracing bus no. 23 on the historic Jerusalem-Hebron Road | Palestinian Revolution Cinema Comes to NYC | "Material for a film": Retracing Wael Zuaiter (Part 1) | Acquisition: Emily Jacir at SFMOMA |