SANE HILWE YA OKHTI (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SISTER), 2017
M16 bullets, various materials, marble and wood cake stand
11 x 8.5 in
Courtesy of the artist
Jacqueline Reem Salloum is a Brooklyn-based artist and filmmaker whose pop-infused work draws on her Palestinian and Syrian roots. Her multi-media based artwork focuses on documenting histories and memories of...
Jacqueline Reem Salloum is a Brooklyn-based artist and filmmaker whose pop-infused work draws on her Palestinian and Syrian roots. Her multi-media based artwork focuses on documenting histories and memories of people, including her family, that have been fragmented by displacement and exile.
Salloum’s three works in the exhibit were inspired by interviews with Sumaya Yousef who grew up in Fawar Refugee Camp, near Hebron, Palestine. SANE HILWE YA OKHTI (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SISTER) recalls Sumaya’s childhood where birthdays were not celebrated due to the dispiriting situation. Fourteen year-old Sumaya breaks the taboo by baking her sister a birthday cake. The work’s decoration is like any other birthday cake, referencing Sumaya’s yearn for normalcy, though, when cut into, reveals the systemic violence and fear that permeated throughout the camp.
Salloum’s art and video work have been exhibited in solo and group shows in the US and internationally including, Mori Art Museum, Japan; Reina Sofia, Spain; Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Palazzo Papesse Centre for Contemporary Art, Sienna, Italy. She directed the award winning feature documentary on the Palestinian Hip Hop scene, Slingshot Hip Hop, which premiered at the Sundance film festival. Salloum’s film work includes experimental video pieces like Planet of the Arabs, which also screened at Sundance.