Like Joana, her family originally comes from Izmir. Among those we have encountered is Etel Adnan – poet, painter, artist and an exceptional woman. We believe in encounter more than in influence and, beyond that, we cultivate admiration: so many photos, film sequences, conversations, meetings and exchanges have nurtured and enabled us, at some time, to admire someone or something. Moreover, we have an approximate relation to language – be it a mother tongue or an adopted one – since we feel we can master none of them, while somehow also enjoying that fact.

We constantly move between claiming a form of identity and trying to get rid of it. Courtesy Rose Issa Projects, Londonīecause of our complex origins, we have an ambiguous relationship to identity and belonging. Or else they are images of daily life in Palestine – images often questioned or buried by some ideologies, but which attest to the existence of a memory, a culture and a way of life.Įtel Adnan, Onsi El Hajj, accordion book, 2004. They are proof of a history and give rise to innumerable stories – who cares whether they are true or not? The image is here as a witness, like the one of a grandfather who wore a tailcoat for his wedding in Izmir, Turkey, and whose portrait was proof of the life our families had before becoming refugees. The photographs are of times past, but they also contain fragments of memories that could be the seeds of a mythology, launchers of fiction, indicators of world and territory. We both come from refugee families – one of them Greek, Syrian and Lebanese, the other Palestinian and Lebanese. They were photos of places we had never visited but which had an unknown familiarity. It all began with a few images we used to look at in our respective grandparents’ homes. Except where stated all images courtesy: the artists Hadjithomas and Joreige are currently completing a documentary on the Lebanese space programme and are preparing a monograph to be published by JRP|Ringier.įramed black and white photographs, collection of the artists. They are recipients of the 2012 Abraaj Capital Prize and their video installation A Letter Can Always Reach its Destination (2012) is included in La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (until August). This year, they have had solo shows at the Beirut Exhibition Center (curated by Ashkal Alwan) and The Third Line, Dubai. In 2011, they were included in the 10th Sharjah Biennial, the 11th Biennale de Lyon, France, and the 12th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey. They have directed documentaries including Khiam 2000–2007 (2008) and El Film el Mafkoud (The Lost Film, 2003), as well as the films Al Bayt el Zaher (Around the Pink House, 1999), A Perfect Day (2005) and their most recent work, Je veux voir (I Want to See, 2008), which features Catherine Deneuve and Rabih Mroué. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige collaborate as filmmakers and artists, living between Beirut, Lebanon, and Paris, France.

A perfect day 2005