Residential Block: An exhibition by Rafat Asad

The exhibition includes four groups of the artist’s works, produced over different periods: “White Phosphorus” (2009), “Gaza Hello” (2012), “Unnatural Landscape” (2012), and “Residential Block” (2024). Together the collections address several issues affecting the lives of Palestinians in Gaza. These include the stifling effect of the blockade and siege on the daily life of its residents, including limiting the quantities of fuel allowed to enter and the consequent hours-long power outages that leave Gaza in suffocating darkness, isolating the Palestinians there (meta)physically. This is evident in the occupation’s war machine targeting the communications network to sever the last remaining thread between us and our people in Gaza. Another theme explored is the occupation’s unnatural use of cement, transforming it from a material from which we build our homes into a murderous material turning ceilings into rubble on people’s heads.