CAP Kuwait was proud to present White Memory, an exhibition of a series of monochrome portraits and an installation by Ghassan Hamada, exploring the notions of memory, absence, exodus, and loss of homeland. The main body of White Memory was using the medium of photography as an approach to tell stories of absence from homeland. Each of the image is attempting to capture the essence of the written story sharing its page. In their longer form, the series of photos were telling a larger story. These photographs were capturing and freezing a moment in time whilst conveying an emotion, expressing a mood, sharing an idea, and telling a narrative. All key elements in storytelling of the forced exodus of peoples from Palestine.

Hamada has a long-standing passion towards black and white photography, not merely for the absence of colour; the monochrome pictures in the exhibition were artistically blending shapes and tones to help us see the life of the Palestinian refugees more clearly. Black and white photos are truthful even though the world is in colour. The feeling is that the artist has stripped away all the distractions and left us with the essence of a subject. Because there is less in these monochrome images, there’s more emphasis on what remains. In many ways, black and white is the essence of photography. The artist is attempting to help us see the lives of these people more clearly.

All photos presented in White Memory are captured on film. The artist has a strong belief that film does teach him to be intentional, not only with his subject but with his content; and with what he is creating. This is particularly interesting and important when creating content as artwork and for the audiences they want to engage. There is an emotional connection between him, his work and the audience. Film has the ability to create an equal bond. Only film has the ability to capture pure and raw emotion.

You can hear the story of each person photographed, their first years were not absent from their memory, as they still remember all the details of their birth and their first education, Palestine. The long years of absence and the great suffering of the Palestinians since the forced exodus from their country did not distort their fresh memories.

These oral histories are an important adjunct to the photo essay Hamada had – to capture a way of life and the experience that these Palestinian refugees were passing. In a way, the oral histories are deepening, adding and giving context to the photographs. Palestinians are talking about their time before, during and after the exodus. With the photographs, we have a still representation and what the oral history interview adds is someone saying, ‘that’s what my life was like then’ and giving further detail comparing to life now. That adds quite a lot to it.

Part of the exhibition is an installation produced by the artist using replicas of original key of a lost home in Palestine. Keys are the symbol of the Palestinian “Nakba” – the “disaster” – the final, fateful, terrible last turning in the lock of those front doors as 750,000 Arab men, women and children fled or were thrown out of their homes in what was to become the state of Israel in 1947 and 1948.

A White Memory … It may be the last testimonies of the first stories of the memory of absence from the homeland. It may seem confusing to some, but it appears as a beautiful dream that they have every night, telling them the hope of a soon return.

Ghassan Hamada
A self-taught Jordanian artist of Palestinian origin, born in Kuwait in 1968. He is a multidisciplinary artist, with practice in calligraphy, painting, film and graphic design. A strong believer in experimentation as a process for creativity paving the path for participating in competitions and winning numerous awards.
The Arabic letter captivates him with its curves and overlapping lines. Sometimes he says that the rules of this calligraphy were laid in the sky, so no human being can achieve such perfection.