Khaled Jarrar is a Palestinian artist. He works with photography, video, and performance to interrogate the problematic situation in his native country, particularly the question of recognition of the State of Palestine and the militaristic discourse around this. He uses his artistic practice as a means of thinking about questions of conflict, nationhood, home and belonging. The notion of state authority is a recurring concern: his project Live and Work in Palestine (2011-ongoing) saw the artist design a seemingly official Palestinian passport stamp which was then offered to tourists arriving in Palestine. Since then, people had a chance to stamp their passports in Berlin, Paris, Prague and other cities.
When he was participating in the 7th Berlin Biennale he introduced another official sign: postage stamps. In utilizing the Deutsche Post AG service called “individual stamp”, the artist produced stamps for the State of Palestine to be used in the regular mail or (more than 20,000 stamps have been sold so far, and you should still be able to order them – contact order@kw-berlin.de).
In Khaled’s words, this is:
“A project inspired by this dream of mine, of living a normal life in a normal country, like a normal human being. Justice for Palestine!”
all images © Khaled Jarrar
For more on this project and Jarrar’s work in general – visit his facebook page.
