Shibli, Ahlam

Born in 1970, Ahlam Shibli addresses the contradictory implications of the concept of home. Using a documentary aesthetics, she reflects on the loss of home and the fight against that loss, as well as the restrictions and limitations that the idea of home imposes on individuals and communities marked by repressive identity politics. With a production that includes photography, video and film, Shibli focuses on the relationship between a majority and a minority in Israel and Palestine, and their asymmetric way of relating. A form of displacement and occupation that applies, not only to the Palestinian condition, but to other circumstances and states marked by injustice and internal paradoxes.

Solo exhibitions include Remai Modern Museum, Saskatoon, Canada (2017); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2010); Dundee Contemporary Arts (2007); Kunsthalle, Basel (2006); and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2003). In 2013, MACBA hosted the retrospective Ahlam Shibli: Phantom Home, which later toured to the Jeu de Paume, Paris and the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto. Her work is included in collections such as MACBA, Barcelona.