I spy with my little eye a billboard I don’t understand.
This inscription is “AP3851,” a remnant of Palestinian artist Emily Jacir’s recent installation ex libris (2010-2012) at Alexander and Bonin in Chelsea.
The 1948 Palestinian exodus, also known as al Nakba (Arabic for disaster, catastrophe, or cataclysm) ((http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/al-Nakba)) occurred when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, as a result of the UN General Assembly recommendation for the partition of Palestine. The term nakba also refers to the period of war itself and events affecting Palestinians from December 1947 to January 1949. ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus))
According to a number of sources, not only were land and properties taken during the expulsion, but cultural treasures, among them books, manuscripts, personal papers, photographs and works of art, were seized, first by individual looters, then through systematic seizures by the Israeli army and universities. ((http://jfjfp.com/?tag=nakba))
From the exhibition press release:
ex libris commemorates the approximately thirty thousand books from Palestinian homes, libraries, and institutions that were looted by Israeli authorities in 1948. Six thousand of these books are kept and catalogued at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem under the designation “A.P.” (Abandoned Property).
Jacir photographed these books with her cell phone during repeated visits to the library over the course of two years. Jacir’s explorations and her subsequent selection of specific images create an intimate register of fragments and traces. Her work not only addresses the looting and destruction of books but also raises questions regarding repatriation and restitution. ((http://www.alexanderandbonin.com/sites/default/files/Emily%20Jacir%2C%20intervals.pdf))
The Great Book Robbery by Benny Brunner expands on Jacir’s explorations.
Today I studied maps of Israel/Palestine and read some history of the conflict for the first time. The concepts were vaguely familiar but I lacked all context. Nothing like a little High Line elevation to plant the seed of perspective.