The Artist:

Tayseer Barakat is a very well acclaimed Palestinian artist. We witness works of ink on paper in Tayseer Barakat's 12th solo exhibit the Sakakini Center. The exhibit portrays images of the last departure of the Arabs from Andalusia, recollecting Granada’s palaces and poor houses. Sensing the last remnants of Valencia before departing it… "

The Exhibit:

In his own words the artist describes the drive behind his art…
The Arabs Last Days in Andalusia “The images of the last departure for the Arabs from Andalusia have been haunting me through many years. I have found my soul roaming in the streets and allies of Granada. I have followed footsteps that have reached the doorsteps of poor houses and the verandas of rich palaces. I have heard the songs of the last siege and those of poems of love and glory. I have roved through the echoes of the conquerors and leaders’ voices and I have listened to the whispers of the siege. My skin has been charred with the tears of those departing and I have rummaged through the luggage of the emigrants. My eyes have walked upon the fingers that embrace the words of Ibn Hazm. I even followed the tears of a woman falling on a candle with hands daubed with henna as if she were a bride amidst the sea.

I have burned with the fire of calligraphy for seven nights and six suns. I have wrapped myself in the nights against the cold of Andalusia with stories of the haulers, the merchants and the water carriers. And I have bathed myself with the songs of the sailors and the gypsy dances. I have garbed myself with a heavy cloak that will protect me against the frost of the heart for the last emigration and I closed my eyes when I reached the Martyrs Court…and the voice of Um Abed still haunts me saying “do not weep like a woman over a property you did not keep like a man.”

O Um Fatema, Um Ali and Um Aiche thou that are standing on the threshold of departing from Granada, saying farewell to the bed sheets of your families and breezing in the scent of lemon buds for the last time. Um Leila has only learnt the making of ka’ek from Um Sara a week before parting Malqa. O Abu Salem, the bridge that you have walked upon in Seville, you will weep for in the midst of the ocean.

O my soul, stay there and roam in the hills and the fields. Wander through all the eras. Climb the highest buildings in Valencia. Walk through the corridors of the palaces and ascend the minarets and repeat the waling of those who are broken in Azza. O mother you will always remain between Jenin and Granada drifting between memory and presence.”