Closing Event - The Lost Paintings: A Prelude to Return

The artists will each deliver 20-minute presentations on their work in the film screen space within our Upper Gallery, followed by a Q&A.

Participating artists: Noor Abed / Steve Sabella / Yara Kassem Mahajena

Noor Abed works at the intersection of performance and film. Her works create situations where social possibilities are both rehearsed and performed. Abed attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York and the Home Workspace Program (HWP) at Ashkal Alwan, Lebanon. In 2020, she co-founded with Lara Khaldi the School of Intrusions, an independent educational collective in Ramallah, Palestine. Abed was an assistant curator at documenta fifteen, Germany; artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie, Netherlands; and a Han Nefkens Foundation/Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grantee.

Steve Sabella is an established artist and author possessing a distinct style that has earned him numerous awards and accolades. Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, and based in Berlin since 2010, Sabella’s bold work is recognizable for its themes of identity and displacement, exile, the effects of colonization, liberation, and the human condition in a powerful way while celebrating the resilience of the human spirit. Sabella is also the author of the award-winning memoir The Parachute Paradox (2016), which tackles the colonization of the imagination and The Artist’s Curse: On Being an Artist: Navigating the Art Market and the Art World (2023).

Yara Kassem Mahajena is a Palestinian multidisciplinary artist, lecturer and co-founder of Shahinat Burtuqal, a digital platform promoting Palestinian art. Her work explores trauma with a focus on political trauma and animal resistance in Palestine. She holds BA and MFA degrees from Haifa University, a Community Art certificate from Beit Berl, and a Leadership certificate from Roger Williams University (USA). Yara has taught at Haifa and Mercy University (NY) and held roles at Givat Haviva, Bezalel Academy and Umm Al-Fahm Museum. She has exhibited and curated internationally and received multiple awards recognising her artistic achievements.