A walkthrough of Jude Abu Zaineh’s opening reception at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival
By Sukanna Naqvi
For the past 18 years, the non-profit, volunteer-run Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) has focused on showcasing the best of Palestinian cinema, food, art and music in Toronto.
The festival was first created in 2008 to commemorate Al-Nakba’s 60th anniversary. Al-Nakba is the term used to refer to the ethnic cleansing, mass expulsion and violent displacement of Palestinians in 1948 — and observing the on-going genocide, it continues.
Given the festival’s roots, it’s only fitting that for their 18th edition, TPFF featured an artist whose work is centred around stories of displacement as well as those of empowerment and renewal.
On Sept. 24, TPFF commenced with an opening reception of Jude Abu Zaineh’s art exhibit, ‘The Stones Know Our Names,” which ran for five days. Abu Zaineh is a Palestinian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist. In her work, she tells stories of Palestinian identity, diaspora and belonging. This exhibition showcased several pieces, all of which were primarily composed of archival materials.
Abu Zaineh has always focused on her Palestinian lineage in her work, using different materials to centre decolonial perspectives in telling stories of displacement and culture. In an interview, the artist said she accumulated her materials from years of collecting and scouring through archives and repositories. Many of them have been collected from libraries, universities and museums.
She chooses to centre her work around these materials to historicize them and place a longer lineage in and around history, culture and placemaking, Abu Zaineh described.
“The Stones Know Our Names” features works that put different facets of Palestinian culture and heritage on full display. They thoughtfully capture the diverse artifacts of Palestinian life, from plants and nature to documents, food and people. Abu Zaineh’s use of the materials sends a powerful message — standing against colonial violence and capturing the strength and resilience of the Palestinian people.
“These things are constantly evolving and changing, but there are groups at the core or a foundation that it’s built upon,” Abu Zaineh said.
“When we think about our ancestral knowledge, our histories and our identities, they come from a place. They stem from foundational roots. And so I’m thinking about these systems of knowledge and this lineage.”
This core message is evident in all of her works and her pieces show a vivid contrast between the past and the future. This allows the observer to reflect on the profound differences in Palestinian life and its evolution over the past few decades through continued resilience.
Abu Zaineh does not focus her work on the long-time persecution that Palestinians face, but rather on the progress they have made and the culture they have sustained over centuries. Abu Zaineh describes the archives in her work “operating as both record and seed,” displaying ancestral ties.
“Palestinian identity and selfhood are not new,” Abu Zaineh said. “It’s generations and generations in the making and I’m emphasizing that record of history and archive and also allowing space to be part of a contemporary conversation.”
Ultimately, Abu Zaineh builds a powerful narrative in her work. This exhibition, while compact, was incredibly compelling and thought-provoking. Abu Zaineh’s work offers great insight into Palestinian history with her careful choice of materials and talent for artful storytelling.
