2025, PhD Dissertation, Universität zu Köln: The Roles of Betweenness: Visual Narratives by Lebanese and Palestinian Contemporary Artists
https://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/78632/
My dissertation explores the visual-narrative practices of six contemporary Lebanese and Palestinian artists whose works are shaped by conditions of betweenness—a lived and creative negotiation between their homelands and Europe. These artists navigate a complex landscape of identity, memory, and cultural heritage, utilizing innovative techniques that challenge traditional storytelling forms. Through close readings of film-based artworks, the study examines how these artists construct counter-narratives that question dominant histories and reflect on cultural memory, offering alternative perspectives that resonate with audiences both locally and internationally. Furthermore, it delves into the socio-political contexts that inform their creations, providing insight into how displacement and diasporic experiences influence their artistic expression. Conducted within the German academic context, the research also addresses how European institutions frame and mediate such narratives, highlighting the significance of institutional support and recognition in fostering diverse artistic voices. Ultimately, it argues that betweenness generates new ways of seeing and telling, where art becomes a site of dialogue between cultures, places, and histories, effectively bridging divides and fostering greater understanding in an increasingly interconnected world.
2024, Article. Inas Halabi’s We No Longer Prefer Mountains (2022). Creating an Artistic Counternarrative within the Druze Community in Israel/Palestine through Oral History and Fukeiron Methodologies
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/view/21895/21507
The article examines the research methods behind Inas Halabi’s film We No Longer Prefer Mountains (2022), which offers a counternarrative of Druze identity and history. It explores how Halabi employs oral history and the Japanese landscape method fukeiron to reveal different strategies of anti-colonial resistance. Ultimately, the paper reflects on the artist’s role in advancing a militant and decolonial form of research through her visual practice.
2023, Article. Imagining Alternative Futures: Migrations in the Art of Yael Bartana
https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/1765e392-4f19-4c2e-9860-c6659576339a/content
This article investigates how Yael Bartana employs fictive migrations in her major works And Europe Will Be Stunned and Malka Germania to generate alternative historical scenarios. By combining visual iconographic analysis with socio-political contextualization, it argues that Bartana’s art invites viewers to reimagine collective memory, diasporic identity, and political responsibility.
Giacomo Paci 