Howard Halle in Time Out New York on Palestinian-American Emily Jacir's very political show at the Guggenheim:
Jacir’s tendentiousness is hardly a career impediment in an art world where any expression of identity appended by the word politics
is applauded with the gusto of a seal performing at Marine World. But
one can sympathize with her having to work in a country that’s so
overwhelmingly pro-Israel. Most Americans see the Jewish state as a
sister democracy. Cynics might say we share common histories of
uprooting indigenous populations, though such a comparison overlooks
the fact that the argument over Palestine revolves around the question
of just who is indigenous: the Jews who conquered the place
three millennia ago, or the Arabs who did so 2,000 years later? (Maybe
neither group belongs!) It’s also worth noting that when, for example,
Andrew Jackson evicted the Cherokee from Georgia, there was no CNN or
BBC to report the fact, no horde of indignant university students to
condemn his actions. Israel enjoys no such refuge from international
opprobrium, even when countering existential threats.
Yet some of
the loudest voices questioning Israel’s policies—indeed, its very
viability—are those belonging to Israeli artists. Jacir’s work, on the
other hand, appears unconstrained by intellectual honesty.
I don't know about Jacir's defense of Wael Zuaiter, which is at the heart of this show, but this kind of unreconstructed Zionism in the American press is offensive. We're sister democracies, the Jews (whoever we are; I think my people came from the Kazakhs for all I know) have an equal historical claim on Palestine? Rationalizing Israel's behavior by reference to 1820s America, a time of slavery? Also: questioning Israel's viability is something alot of people are doing in the political realm lately. Gaza changed everything. Jim Crow on the West Bank, too.
