Abed Abdi 50 Years of Creativity: The Exhibition & the Book!
The Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery is proud to present the exhibition: Abed Abdi – 50 Years of Creativity – A Retrospective.
The Exhibition will be opened on the 22 May 2010, and will remain open until the end of October 2010.
The exhibition will embrace the body of Abdi’s work over the last fifty years.
Press release
Abed Abdi’s contribution to the visual culture of the Palestinian minority in Israel is unprecedented. In 1964 he went to study in Dresden and on his return to Haifa in 1971 was appointed chief graphic designer and illustrator of the Al-Ittihad newspaper and the Al-Jadid literary journal, which at the time were the main platforms of Arab culture and society. It was then that Abdi created hundreds of illustrations and prints – images of refugees, exile and homeland – the majority of which illustrated the literary works of Emile Habibi, Salman Natour, Samih al-Qasim, and others. It is these images that shaped Arab visual memory of historical events like the Nakba, the refugee camps, destroyed villages, and the events of Land Day, hence the works’ significant influence on the collective memory of the Palestinian minority in Israel.
The exhibition comprises illustrations, stone prints, and lithographs published over fifty years, from the 1960s to the present day. There is also a large number of oil and mixed technique paintings from the 1980s and 90s that completes the entire body of the artist’s work.
In 1978, Abdi, together with Gershon Knispel, created the Land Day commemorative monument in Sakhnin, and later created monuments in Shfaram, Kafr Kana and Kafr Manda. The exhibition presents the monument’s preliminary sketches and model, and also posters designed by Abdi over the years to mark Land Day and the Kafr Qassem massacre, and Israel Communist Party election posters.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue (in Hebrew, Arabic and English) that will summarize Abdi’s work, and enable art lovers to familiarize themselves with the entirety of the work of one of the most important artists active in Arab culture in Israel.
Abed Abdi: 50 Years of Creativity: The Book
On this special occassion a unique catalogue will be published, containing more than 100 high quality images of Abed Abdi's art, alongside texts in English, Arabic and Hebrew, as follows:
- Preface by Sa`ed Abu Shaqra
- Abed Abdi: 50 Years of Creation- The wandering Museum in the works of the Artist Abed Abdi by Dr. Amir Abdi
- Abed Abdi: “Wa Ma Nasina” (We Have Not Forgotten) by curator Tal Ben Zvi
- Abed ABDI- An Artist- Phenomenon by Palestinian Poet Samih Al Qasim
To order your copy, kindly use the contact form.
How to get to the exhibition:
From the coastal highway drive north-east on highway 65 until you reach the Umm el-Fahem junction. Turn right into Umm el-Fahem (if you are coming from the north you should turn left instead) and continue straight along the boulevard. Once you have passed three round-abouts continue driving for another 500m until you have reached a tire repair shop on your right. Turn right onto the up-hill road and continue for 300m to the gallery (you may also follow the signs to the gallery from the entrance of the city).
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