UC San Diego

My project examines the effect of the inter-Intifada period (1993-2000) on Palestinian art produced by artists living in Palestine and Israel. I argue that political disillusionment resulting from the failed Oslo Accords (1993) and outbreak of the Second Intifada (2000-2005), increased globalization, and the rise of the Internet during this period altered Palestinian mentality regarding the occupation, Palestinian government, and daily life. Moreover, I contend that this shifting mentality is articulated in the art produced in the post-Second Intifada period. My chapters examine three thematics wherein this shift can be seen.

The first chapter investigates changing notions of Palestinian time from one of stagnant waiting in the hope of a return to an idealized past to a waiting wherein time gives the illusion of forward motion, while in reality events recur cyclically without any real progress. This is evident in post-Second Intifada Palestinian art in the use of repeated imagery in video and film, the insertion of historic imagery into a contemporary context, and the image of the circle. Chapter 2 examines the presence of humor in post-Second Intifada Palestinian art. While art had previously served to promote Palestinian nationalist ideology, disillusionment with the possibility for peace or progress in the wake of the failed Oslo Accords resulted in the rise of dark humor as a means of artistic critique and expression of frustrations with the realities of daily Palestinian life. The final chapter investigates the expansion of critique among Palestinian artists from one that focuses solely on the occupation, to a self-reflexive critique. This chapter consists of three parts, each of which investigates a different critique: political (the actions of Palestinian leaders and their use or sacrifice of the arts in service of the resistance), religious (the rise and influence of conservative Islam), and gender/sexuality (Arab masculinity and homosexuality). Each of the thematics discussed in my project interacts and overlaps in artists' works to reveal how Palestinian attitudes about their daily lives and the potential for the future have shifted after the failure of Oslo.