Key of Return
In ‘Ayda Refugee Camp, just outside Bethlehem, every single resident has been exposed to tear gas bombs, often multiple times a week, making it the most tear-gassed community ever documented. In order to get there, you must drive along the separation wall, where breaths are skipped as petrol burns. Not so long ago, Jerusalem’s neighbourhoods Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan witnessed yet more Palestinian homes expropriated; “khalas? You left my hand holding a key without the house it opens!” In this exhibition we return to the shades beneath the olive trees, to the scent of jasmine in Jaffa, the mulberries of Ramallah, the flower tatreez of Khalil, the steadfast mountains of Nablus, the sea that cradles Gaza. In the art you are about to see, you will encounter a reimagined homeland—where a items once crafted as weapons turn into beautiful jewellery, where grandfather’s memories are sketched into every corner of the city, where smuggled sperm claims life from within Israeli prisons, where colour becomes an escape from loss, and where flying fish return, once again, to Gaza. Welcome everyone, for this is your home. It has got no key, for it was never meant to be locked.
Vernissage: Thursday, August 14th from 17:00 to 22:00
The exhibition is open from August 15th until August 17th, 2025.
Times:
Fri 15th | 17:00 – 22:00
Sat 16th & Sun 17th | 13:30 – 22:00
Artists:
Al Aziz Atef, Amer Nasser, Faiza Afifi, Jehad Jarbou, Maisara Baroud, Mariam Salah, Marwan Nassar, Moayed Abu Ammouna, Raed Issa, Sama Abu Allaban, Walaa Shublaq.
PROGRAM
Thursday, August 14th:
Artists’ talk | 18:30
Poetry Session ‘On Their Hearts, They Walked’ with Mazen Safadi | 20:00
Friday, August 15th:
Clothes Pop-up Market Berlin-based brand Holy Soul | 17:00
Wido Kim Piano concert | 19:00
Saturday, August 16th:
Tatreez needle point workshop with Amina Khalil | 14:00 | →Click here to sign up
Short films screening with Asil Alwadiya (in Gaza) | 19:00
Sunday, August 17th:
Henna workshop with Mariam Rasheed | 14:00 | →Click here to sign up
Music performances | 19:30
