Sharif Waked

Sharif Waked
Born	1964 Nazareth
Occupation	Visual artist

Sharif Waked (Arabic: شريف واكد‎) is a Palestinian visual artist.

Sharif Waked, a painter, graphic designer and children's books illustrator was born 1964, in Nazareth, to a Palestinian refugee family from the village of Mjedil. He lives and works in Haifa/Nazareth. Waked has exhibited at various biennials, museums, and art venues internationally.

1 Education
2 Awards and Prizes
3 Artwork
4 Melancholia (1998)
5 Jericho First (2002)
6 Chic Point (2003)
7 Tugra (2008)
8 To Be Continued... (2009)
9 Beace Brocess (2010)
10 Selected Exhibitions
11 Articles
12 External links
13 Museums

Education

1983-1986 Haifa University, creative art and philosophy.

Awards and Prizes

2007 Minister of Science, Culture, and Sport, Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport
Anderson Prize and Mark of Distinction, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, for children's book illustration, "A Child Going Upstairs"

Artwork

Waked's known works include Melancholia (1998), Zoom (1999), Jericho First (2002), Chic Point (2003), Tugra (2008), To Be Continued... (2009), and Beace Brocess (2010).

Waked’s work is part of the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (NY), Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE), Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la création (Paris), Israel Museum Jerusalem, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, Australia, and the Barjeel art foundation (UAE) among others.

Melancholia (1998)

Waked juxtaposes slivers of sayings and fragments of images drawn from the reservoirs of memory. The sentence and the image are stitched together with computer processing, which is photographed from the screen, printed and scanned, and the process is then repeated. The act of photographing captures also the flash of light that is reflected as a darkish beam on the computer screen and becomes an integral part of the picture, endowing it with a dramatic effect. The invasive beam of light has an aesthetic value, but also the troubling and subversive presence of a foreign element: as though someone is trying to illuminate the art work with a flashlight in order to ferret in its innards; as though the art work itself is suspected of subversion.

from Naomi Aviv, "It Hurts Only When I Laugh," in Sharif Waked, Melancholia (Andalus Publishing, 2007).

Jericho First (2002)

The installation's categorically ironic title attests to a much broader story than that of current politics. Jericho First is based on an 8th-century mosaic floor, an integral part of Islamic art, fully excavated in Jericho. Thus, the codeword “first” which we almost instinctively associate with the dilemma of who shall be driven out first, concurrently refers to the beginnings of time, to archaeology, and the study of what had once been there, in the beginning.

from Galia Yahav, "The Lion King," in Sharif Waked, Jericho First (Andalus Publishing, 2007)

Chic Point (2003)

Sharif Waked’s video, Chic Point: Fashion For Israeli Checkpoints has solicited a bevy of artistic and critical responses and unleashed strong reverberations throughout intellectual and artistic circles. In 2007, Andalus Publishing House released a book about Waked’s video work and its implications. The trilingual book (Arabic, English, and Hebrew) contains a DVD of the short film, still photography from the set, and five essays about and inspired by the film. The book includes the contributions of Elia Suleiman, Nicole Brenez, Sherene Seikaly, Ariella Azoulay, and Jack Persekian. Sharif Waked has offered permission to publish excerpts from the critical essays on the video together with a couple of minutes from the video. The following segments are excerpts from the essays by Sherene Seikaly and Ariella Azoulay.

from ArteEast ArteEast Quarterly

Tugra (2008)

Sharif Waked takes soldiers’ two most common directives in Hebrew inflected Arabic – “Get Out of Here!” (yalla ruch min hon), and “Your I.D.!” (jib hawiya) – and places them in the imperial monogram of the tugra. In combining the sophisticated written form of calligraphy with the banal colloquial, Waked brings Islamic art and the language of the checkpoint into an unlikely encounter.   The meeting point of this encounter is Sulayman the Magnificent’s imperial monogram, or tugra, which was placed on all state documents, written decrees, and coins issued from the royal court. Known for conquering large swaths of the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, Sulayman was also a patron of arts and architecture.  In 1542, he restored the Dome of the Rock and built what today stand as the walls of Jerusalem’s old city. Under Sulaymans’ reign, the Ottomans developed a complex form of calligraphy called Diwani, which found expression in his unique tugra that declared him “ever victorious.”   Waked ponders linguistic transformations and deformations as he delves into the ovals, arabesques, and vertical lines of this elaborate form of Arabic calligraphy. He explores the tugra, literally meaning “enclosed garden,” to reflect on the timeless conundrums of historical triumph and defeat and the loaded friction between aesthetics and power.

Text: Sherene Seikaly

To Be Continued... (2009)

To Be Continued references the "living martyr" videos. We see a man (palestinian actor Saleh Bakri) reading what was supposed to be the text that testifies to his approaching obliteration but emerges instead as tales from A Thousand and One Nights. The video overturns the familiar convention of the suicide bombers’ last will and testament through an unending process of narration.To Be Continued... is in the Solomon R. Guggenheim's permanent collection in New York.  

Beace Brocess (2010)

This video references a well-known clip from the Camp David II talks in 2000 when Arafat and Barak stood on the threshold of the negotiating chamber. At that memorable moment, the men engaged in a playful display as they jousted in a circle over who would first enter the room. The two explicitly showcased “traditional,” perhaps even “Oriental” norms of hospitality and respect. Implicitly, they engaged in a contest of will.

Through interventions in the archival material, this video transforms the two men’s gestures into a dancing Sisyphian circle that endlessly repeats itself. Beace Brocess reflects on tedium, tautology, repetition, and absurdity.

Selected Exhibitions

(2010) Royal Academy of Arts, London / JAMM Exhibition, Belgrave Square, London / Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, USA / Israel Museum Jerusalem / Art Gallery of Windsor, Ontario, Canada / Cinéma du réel, Paris / DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas.

(2009) National Museum of Bahrain / Paris Photo, Carrousel Du Louvre / Museum of Modern Art of Algiers / Abu Dhabi Art Fair, UAE / The Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia / Spaport Biennial, Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina / Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, California / Postmasters Gallery, NY / Visor Gallery, Valencia, Spain / The Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris / French Cultural Centre, Gaza / Queens Museum of Art, NY / Art Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai / Sharjah Biennial 9, UAE / Columbus College of Art & Design, Ohio.

(2008) Rubin Museum, Tel Aviv / The Decker Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland / Gemak Museum, The Hague / Huarte Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Huarte, Spain / Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool / La Maison des métallos, Paris / The Israel Museum, Jerusalem / Haifa Museum of Art / Artists Space, New York / Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London. La Mekanica, Barcelona / Meeting Points 5, Brussels.

(2007) Hebbel am Ufer HAU 2, Berlin / The Nobel Peace Centre, Oslo / The Seconde Riwaq Biennale, Ramallah / Tate Modern, London / 20th Instants Video, Marseille, France / Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery / Dublin Docklands.

(2006) Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris / Kunsthallen Brænderigården, VIBORG, Denmark / Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall, Copenhagen / Odense film festival, Denmark / Frieze Art Fair, UK.

(2005) Oberhausen Kurzfilmtage / Cork Film Centre / Carthage Festival,Tunis / Côté Court, Saint-Denis / The Imperial Mint, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul / e-flux and Kunstwerke, Video Rental Room, Berlin / Transmediale 05, Berlin.

(2004) Impakt 2003, Utrecht / Herziliya Museum of Contemporary Art / Macro al Mattatoio Museum, Rome / Institute of Contemporary Arts, ICA, London.

(2003) Cinémathèque française, Paris / Witte de Witt Museum, Rotterdam / A. M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah / Home Works II, Beirut / The 6th Sharjah International Biennial, UAE / Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Ramallah.