Politics and culture met on festive terms at Tmuna Theatre’s A-Genre Festival, focusing this year on occupation and The Occupation from a variety of perspectives. I like the pleasurable agitation of these events, moving around from one corner of the venue to another, talking, looking, drinking, thinking.
What struck me?
Gabrielle Neuhaus sat under the stairway, toiling away at her sewing machine, doing piece work. Tearing pages from Israeli and Palestinian history books and sewing the pieces together to create a patchwork that becomes a whole, growing larger and larger, spilling out into the room. It fascinated me to watch and was almost unbearable to see books being torn apart. Confirming with the artist that the books used were carefully collected from sidewalks and other places where they had been discarded, yet there was a small pain with each tear, perhaps a useful reminder that if we are to attempt to bring our two narratives together, we should know that it’s gonna hurt.
