Lot 516: Raeda Saadeh , Gabonese B. 1977 Crossroad cibachrome print mounted on aluminium

Name: Raeda Saadeh , Gabonese B. 1977 Crossroad cibachrome print mounted on aluminium
Brand: Sotheby's
SKU: tc7l7v172l

Est: £4,000 GBP - £6,000 GBPSold:

Sotheby'sLondon, United KingdomOctober 24, 2007

Item Overview

Description

signed, dated 2003 and numbered 5/6 on a label affixed to the reverse cibachrome print mounted on aluminium

Dimensions

measurements note 102.2 by 102.2cm.; 40 1/4 by 40 1/4 in.

Artist or Maker

Raeda Saadeh

Literature

Gannit Ankori, Palestinian Art, London 2006, front cover, another example illustrated in colour

Notes

The work of Palestinian-Israeli artist Raeda Saadeh is perhaps best articulated by the following poem: Identity ...Do not be bewildered!
I am the strange contradiction between a thousand opinions
and a thousand lies
of all the broken fences.
I am the contradiction that unbalances the old and the new
The contradiction between the fortune teller and the tale.
I always dreamt of becoming a communist comrade
Of a born again believer, dense and unable to understand
So that just for a moment, peace will come to my soul
And then I will become the stranger
Or perhaps the one who belongs.
When I sleep in my Israeli affiliation
And wake up occasionally with my Palestinian sorrow
My Arab distress
My Druze embarrassment
What will you have me say,
That all these are my identity?
So be it:
But when my communist friend hears this he says to me:
You must read Lenin
so that peace will dwell between you and yourself
You and your Gods!
Imagine!
When my Jewish friend hears these things, he says to me:
Tuck in your [military] uniform
Without it you look like a member of the 'minority'
an [Arab] labourer in the streets of Haifa.
And when my bearded friend from Um al-Fahem sees me
(in or out of uniform) he says:
Not one righteous man will come from your midst
A Druze you will stay, a traitor you will remain...
Oh people of this land so full of contradictions
Where people go out to gaze at the blooming Iris of Gilboa
And then to war.
I will sacrifice my soul as your scapegoat
As always
And my bitter flesh will fill with poison.
I hate leafing through Arab history books
that categorize people according to their nations.
More than that I hate the Hebrew press
that makes of every new immigrant a worthier citizen than I.
Oh, people of this land full of contradictions... Nizar Khir cited in: Gannit Ankori, Palestinian Art, London 2006, p.117.

Auction Details

Modern & Contemporary Arab & Iranian Art Sale

Sotheby's

October 24, 2007, 12:00 PM EST

34-35 New Bond Street, London, LDN, W1A 2AA, UK

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