“Ship and the Sea”

Jenan Afaneh

Artist Statement: My work, Ship and the Sea (pearl cotton on fabric, 2022), expresses an un-mingling of object, time, and space. The Sea is bright, sudden, and untouchable. The Sea looks back at the viewer, and not at the ships, anchored and detached, as if stuck and waiting to be unleashed. My artwork is inspired by a Palestinian Tatreez (traditional cross-stitch) pattern. To a people who have been forbidden from accessing any body of water, the Sea represents pain. But the Sea hints that there is a resort: that of escape, dissociation, and possibly death. The people mourn, and the ships remain.