LAMIA ABUKHADRA

لمياء ابوخضرا

HOW TO SHRIVEL




2019
Photolithography, linen bookbinding tape, paper
40 in x 17 in // 102 cm x 43 cm


Using a recurring symbol of dried citrus, this work diagrams shriveling, equated to experiencing the loss of an infrastructure of intimacy. Citrus is historically and economically significant in Palestine. In a few of my family stories, certain relatives returned to Palestine as tourists and picked citrus fruits from trees in front of the houses they once owned. Back in their forced exile, they were unable to consume the the oranges; instead letting the fruits rot and dry out or simply throwing them away. This work draws connections between the processes of losing an infrastructure of intimacy– displacement through illegal settlement or gentrification, the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship– and the systems such losses connect to and create.