Mona Lisa

The woman as an occurring subject in my installations or
performance work is represented as living in a state of occupation. This
occupation or "occupying" force is issued through political conditions
within her environment and this results in influencing the otherwise
peaceful quality of her world. There are both private and public
elements that manipulate this world.

The occupying force has many facets: it can take the shape
of physical tangible realities of the everyday, such as a wall of
concrete, a fence, a checkpoint, a curfew, a barrier of stone – or it
can reassign it’s force onto the face of a child, a home, a language,
and cultural, traditional expectations. There are limitations on her
personal freedom as well: the woman, the mother, the lover, the guide,
the protector. She seeks justice and longs for change. She is not blind
to the opponents around her and pushes forward with enduring strength –
and at times, she feels that it is almost as if she has to assume a sort
of madness in her behavior so that she can live unharmed by oppression,
in an attempt to always protect those she loves from negative forces of
fear.

In my art works, the woman I represent lives in a world
that attacks her values, her love, her spirit on a daily basis, and for
this reason, she is in a state of occupation – and her world could be
here in Palestine or elsewhere; and despite all, she looks towards her
future with a smile.

The subject/woman I represent in the majority of my work is
weighed down with oppression, but she is filled with ambition; she is
saner than she should be and yet she is also a little mad.  She is both
fragile and strong, she is fully aware and responsive, and she is
constantly on the move. And every move she makes, every act, is an act
that exhibits awareness towards her surrounding environment, while
simultaneously being an act of revolt towards social orders/conditions.

The actions of the subject I represent reflect an
evaluation of the self and that of the subject’s environment, submission
and revolt – attempting to live a life alongside occupying forces in
all its forms and regardless of its geography. The subject is concerned
with issues that "occupy" her individual spirit and the realities of her
daily life, whether political or personal. (Raeda Saadeh)