Our Hirbeh Representations of Arab Ruins in the Israeli Culture
Abstract
This paper presents a critical history of the perception of Arab ruins in poetry, literature, and art in Israel, and to propose an alternate perception through two contemporary Arab-Israeli art works dealing with the image of the Arab ruins – one by Dor Guez (an artist of mixed Jewish- Palestinian origin), and the other by Hanna Farah Kufr Birim (an artist, builder, and architect of Palestinian origin). This paper aims to show that representation of the Hirbeh in Israeli culture tends mostly towards Orientalism and Romanticism, thus creating and presenting it to satisfy political, national, and economic interests. In contrast, the works of Dor Guez and Hanna Farah Kufr Birim make use of the ruins to critically emphasize the political aspect of the representation.
