From the Empty Grave to the Empty Cradle: Myths of Origin and Art in the Israel/Palestine Conflict

Makhoul and Hon co-authored the chapter ‘From the Empty Grave to the Empty Cradle’ which expands upon the idea of origin as an ahistorical and temporally confused conception of national identity that can be thought through in critically engaged art practices. A range of Palestinian artists are examined who challenge spatial and temporal boundaries in relation to national identity, notably through works that use national, political and social boundaries as sites for their practice combined with temporal/spatial ideas of return or speculative futures based on imagined origins. Artists of particular interest include Larissa Sansour, Jumana Manna and Khalil Rabah. The specific political and cultural context of the artists’ works offers a way of thinking through the problematic ideas of origin and identity.