DISRUPTIONS - Taysir Batniji

February 9, 2024

© Taysir Batniji 2024 courtesy Loose Joints

" Disruptions oscillates between the casual domestic language of the family phonecall and warped, degraded compositions, saturated with colour, obliterated with pixels, eradicated by distance. Through resolution and compression, Batniji’s poor images politically visualise how communication and daily life in Gaza are compromised by conflict, control and surveillance."

Artist: Taysir Batniji
Project: Disruptions

Book published by Loose Joints

© Taysir Batniji 2024 courtesy Loose Joints

"Palestinian artist Taysir Batniji’s diverse practice is often tinged with impermanence and fragility, drawing inspiration from his subjective experience and its relation to current events and history. In Disruptions, Batniji collects fragmented screenshots taken between 24 April 2015 and 23 June 2017 during several WhatsApp video conversations with his mother and family in Gaza. Settled in Europe and unable to return to his homeland for years, this digital commons provided a crucial meeting ground for Batniji and his family: a digital space nonetheless shaped and destabilised by the same forces affecting the artist’s relatives in everyday life."

© Taysir Batniji 2024 courtesy Loose Joints

"Disruptions oscillates between the casual domestic language of the family phonecall and warped, degraded compositions, saturated with colour, obliterated with pixels, eradicated by distance. Through resolution and compression, Batniji’s poor images politically visualise how communication and daily life in Gaza are compromised by conflict, control and surveillance. In their noise and visual obliqueness, Batniji creates a thread between common intimacy and the colonial, now genocidal violence imposed upon Gaza to date, while evoking the physical and emotional separation that occurs across borders.

Disruptions is published in solidarity with the legitimate struggle for Palestinian freedom, and in opposition to the domination imposed by the state of Israel against Palestine. A just and lasting peace can only be achieved through recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people. 100% of proceeds from Disruptions will go towards the NGO Medical Aid Palestine, providing crucial medical care and support on the ground. "

© Taysir Batniji 2024 courtesy Loose Joints

Disruptions by Taysir Batniji is published by Loose Joints. through to www.loosejoints.biz

Editor : Nicolas Blanchadell

Taysir Batniji (b.1966 in Gaza, Palestine) was trained as a painter at An-Najah National University, Nablus, prior to continuing his studies in France. His work incorporates photography, video, drawing, installation and performance, and has been shown widely in Europe and the Middle East, including at the Venice Biennale; Jeu de Paume, Paris; Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; Kunsthalle Wien, Witte de With, Rotterdam; Rencontres d’Arles; MAC VAL, Paris; and his most recent solo exhibition at the Mathaf in Doha. Previous publications by Batniji include Home Away From Home (Fondation d’entreprise Hermès and Aperture Foundation, 2018 as part of Immersion, a French-American Photography Commission), and Quelques bribes arrachées au vide qui se creuse (MAC VAL, 2022).

Back to blog