Culturunners Invites Palestinian Artist Khaled Jarrar to Travel to the US for the first time
Against the backdrop of the US Presidential election, Culturunners launches its 2016 ‘Campaign Trail’ with a series of pop-up events in San Diego, Tijuana and along the US / Mexican Border.
Culturunners, a cross-cultural artistic expedition in search of common concerns and interconnected histories between the United States and Middle East, aims to engage audiences in alternative narratives and common concerns between America and the Middle East at this crucial time.
An exhibition entitled “Borderland” will run at San Diego’s Low Gallery from 29th January – 10 February and include work by leading artists from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria, South Africa and Palestine alongside photographs by Culturunners resident photographer, John Mireles. The exhibition will feature “Borderland” themed prints, films and photography by Edge of Arabia artists including Ahmed Mater, Khaled Jarrar, Jenine Sharabi, Foundland, Yazan Khalili, Rashed Al Shashai, Shaweesh and Faisal Samra.
An artists discussion at San Diego Art Institute on Saturday 30th January will explore the border-crossing themes of the project and feature renowned Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar, San Diego based John Mireles and Culturunners Founder, Stephen Stapleton; the discussion will be moderated by Ginger Shulick Porcella, Director of the San Diego Art Institute.
From 1st February, Culturunners and Khaled Jarrar will travel to Tijuana and along the US/Mexican border to El Paso, TX. Jarrar, who is in the US for the first time, is embarking on this journey specifically to develop a project called No Man’s Land which explores the politics of border control and human mobility across physical and ideological frontiers. While in Mexico, Jarrar will host a pop-up event at La Caja Galleria in Tijuana which aims to connect with the local community and explore comparisons and common concerns between Tijuana and his home city of Ramallah, Palestine.
In 2015 Jarrar was famously barred from entering the United States to attend a landmark exhibition featuring his work at the New Museum in New York. Jarrar was stopped by Israeli Security Forces and prevented from leaving his native Palestine in order to attend the event. He managed to join a panel discussion at the Museum only via Skype and promised to return to the US when allowed.
Additional stops in the Culturunners 2016 Campaign Trail include Palestine, TX; Washington D.C., Memphis, TN; Detroit, MI, Omaha, NE; Wounded Knee, SD; Aspen, CO; Los Angeles, CA.
