Ari on Makhoul and Hon, ‘The Origins of Palestinian Art’
Bashir Makhoul and Gordon Hon’s recent publication—The Origins of Palestinian Art—contributes to the modest field of modern and contemporary Palestinian art, previously sketched out by Gannit Ankori’s book Palestinian Art ( 2006) and Kamal Boullata’s book Palestinian Art: 1850-2005 ( 2009). The authors of all three publications use the national designation of Palestinian in their book titles to encompass work made by those artists from among a fragmented diaspora, a growing refugee population, those living under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, and even a significant number of Israeli citizens. In so doing, the authors seek to cement the relationship between the production of art and the construction of a nationalism contingent on the existence of a Palestinian identity. As a self-proclaimed third voice in the field, Bashir Makhoul and Gordon Hon’s study promises to advance the discussion of the past decade, even if the title, perhaps, points us to more of the same.