Majd Abdel Hamid, Borderlines Jordan-Iraq-Syria-Saudi Arabia, 2021

cotton thread on on fabric
24 x 18 cm
MAH/TEX 65

“The secret agreements signed in 1916 between France and the United Kingdom provided for the
division of the Middle East at the end of the war into several zones of influence for the benefit of these powers, which amounted to the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. The agreements were made in
the context of colonial domination.
In 1948 new reconfiguration of the borders is the beginning of a long period of conflicts still ongoing.
Majd Abdel Hamid will redraw in embroidery the demarcation between Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria
and Lebanon. Borders gathers abstract images, all linked to the idea of borders and with contours that are both precise and fluctuating. The personal story of the Palestinian artist, born in Syria and now living in Beirut, is part of a more collective story. If the visible tensions of the fabric recall the geopolitical chaos, the slowness of the embroidery techniques seems to be a form of distancing and therapy. Oscillating between radical abstraction and political awareness, Majd Abdel Hamid proposes a profound and unresolved reflection on the role of the artist as a mediator of societal issues through an artistic practice that is at once compulsive, therapeutic and resilient.”
Guillaume Désanges