Kan Yama Kan. Collaborative Art Project by Steve Sabella

Influenced by John Berger's statement during his visit to Palestine: "As long as there are people who tell the story, the same story, their nation will continue to survive", Sabella presents five Palestinian stories of symbolic and national importance to Palestinians.

Collaborating with five acknowledged Palestinian artists, the project evokes memory, and questions the continuous change of the Palestinian narrative that has influenced the political future of Palestine. Of interest in this installation is how Sabella entices the viewer to experience two dimensional images in a three dimensional space - in a place where fiction (his imagination) and reality (occupied Palestine) interact Through the viewing hole, people engaged into an act of recollection, reflection and remembrance.

Kan Yama Kan (once upon a time)

2005

Installation of 5 custom made wood boxes, painted by 5

Palestinian artists. The inside contains five photo stories.

UNIQUE (one original)

WATCH A FILM CLIP in english created by Eyes Infinite Films in 2007 as part of the

Beyond Blue & Gray film. Contact publisher for a full release.

"After a deep long night sleep, five stories emerged from my imagination and dreams. I live in a world of images that are parts and segments of many buried stories that struggle all the time to come to light. ... I hope that the story that lies in the dark space resurrects and is celebrated again..."

I want to create a one to one experience where the viewer is isolated from the surroundings and starts to travel to another dimension. By closing one eye, the round hole in the middle of the boxes used in Kan Yama Kan acts as a tunnel in time – Destination is Palestine. The multidimensional box offers the viewer to look deep into its three dimensional space where photos line up one next to the other. In their collective, they tell the story of a nation and a land.


the day the birds migrated		Rafat As'ad



Hani Zurob		beyond the sea of gaza



bridal dance		Inass Hamad
WATCH FILM CLIP
For a full version of the film contact Eyes Infinite Films


Monther Jawabreh		the evidence


the land		Bashar AlHroob



WATCH tv interview and installation view. Artist speaks in Arabic on Palestinian TV (Oct 2005) about the project.