فاتن نسطاس متواسي - Faten Nastas Mitwasi

 I feel very lucky for being born in Bethlehem – the place where Jesus was born– and for spending my youth period in Jerusalem – the place where Christianity started. The two places mean a lot for me, I find them having the same value and the same charm. I never imagined myself living far away or isolated from any of them. The memories of my childhood are very rare and dear, while, the memories of my youth period are Memories of Gold. I still smell the scent of the ancient alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem, and I still feel the coolness of its passages and neighbourhoods. It makes me feel very sad that for almost a decade I cannot visit my memories properly. Such a situation renders my memories and confirms that these memories are “Memories of Gold”.

In this art work, I wish to wrap some of the dear places with a scarf as a way to mark them and preserve them. The scarves are made of very soft and transparent silky textile with the golden colour. On the scarves, I attached pieces of golden coins, recalling the traditional Arabic head covers that the Arab women used to wear in old days. However, the golden coins that I am using are not made of real gold but of chocolate. So, they are not coins that would last forever and preserve their value, instead they will melt and vanish day after day, just like memories do. Besides, the chocolate coins are not having Arab or Oriental symbols but rather having Israeli symbols, the menorah, head of Herzl, and the Israeli currency.

This is how I see Jerusalem and my Memories there; a mixture of authenticity and modernity, religion and secularity, identity and polygenesis, individuality and plurality, intimacy and openness, all are transparent, light and as valuable as GOLD. This is “Jerusalem of Gold” and “Memories of Gold”.

November 2007