Paris or Proust with Alexandra Handal

Paris or Proust

with Alexandra Handal

Who or what in history would like to know more about?

I would like to continue exploring in my art practice moments in history when the destruction of social and cultural memory is being used as a weapon to eradicate a people – by targeting not only their constructed world, but also erasing the remnants and artefacts that testify their existence. I’m particularly interested in how that plays a role in the way in which places are then imagined, perceived and narrated by power.

Which author/artist/musician inspire you but that few people know about?

Filmmaker, Pedro Costa.

What image have you seen recently that has affected you?

On the 16^th April 1945, US General George S. Patton ordered 1,000 citizens of Weimar to tour the Buchenwald concentration camp in order to witness the atrocities that were committed by the Nazis and had the event documented. I have recently seen this archival footage. What haunted me most were the stories that were etched on the faces of the German war spectators – as it spoke of the carnage that humankind is capable of. Shame and denial were in evidence in their body language.

What language don’t you speak and wish you did, and why?

Although Arabic was among the five languages that my Palestinian family spoke at home while I was growing-up, it is the only one I am not fluent in yet. I hope to be in the near future so that among other things I can sing the lyrics to Oum Kulthum’s songs without having to hum most of it.

Coffee or tea?

I usually wake-up to a deep dark coffee with a chocolaty accent. My favorite moment is when the coffee starts brewing and I can inhale its aroma even before taking my first sip. In the evening, I opt for shy yansoon* which I find soothing. It is believed among Palestinians to have remedial powers. I get mine from a teashop in Salah Eddin Street in East Jerusalem.

*anise tea

Describe your sense of humor?

You can’t put your hands on it - as similarly to a souk* - it is made-up of an assortment of flavours and contains a number of regional characteristics. It can be vivacious, absurd, spicy, subtle and unpredictable.

*marketplace

Best piece of advice you were ever given, and who gave it to you?

I was in my early twenties and as I often did, I went over to my belated teta’s* house, known to her grandchildren as Ninnin, to have lunch with her. I came wearing a summery navy blue decolté* dress that had small flower patterns on it and that gave me a delicate cleavage. As I entered the living room, my teta looked at me from where she always sat and said: ‘il faut t’habillé comme ça plus souvent*’. From her facial expression and her encouraging ways, I understood her advice as ‘live your dreams, be the woman you want to be, and don’t let anyone tamper with your freedom’. I keep her spirit alive in me.

*1: grandmother in arabic *2: strapless *3: ‘You should dress like that more often’.

What question have you wanted to ask but never dared?

I feel that daring questions often only lead to a boxing match between two opponents and becomes about whose wrong or right. I prefer to swim where tides are the most dangerous. In my view, this is by asking what might seem at first as a mundane question, however it slowly discloses the most painful and cruellest of realites.

Paris or Proust?

Having a jambon au beurre with cornichon at the Gare du Nord after a weekend in Paris, with one of my favorite books in hand, À la recherche du temps perdu: du côté de chez Swann* by Marcel Proust to accompany me on the journey back home to London.

*Remembrance of Things Past: Swann’s Way

Alexandra Handal’s short film, From the Bed & Breakfast Notebooks (2008) was selected for the prestigious New Contemporaries 2009 internationally juried exhibition, which showcases emerging artists in the UK, culminating in an exhibition at A Foundation, London (2009) and Cornerhouse, Manchester (2009). Her forthcoming group show Whose Map is it? new mapping by artists will take place between 2 June - 24 July 2010 at the Institute of International Visuals Arts (INIVA) in London where she will be exhibiting an installation of pencil drawings on vellum titled, Labyrinth of Remains and Migration. For more information, see: http://www.iniva.org/press/2010/whose_map_is_it or visit http://alexandrahandal.org/