Abdulrahman Katanani, a sculpture artist a little over 30 years old, is a representative of the increasingly prominent young Palestinian artists who are staging exhibitions around the world. Unlike many of his peers, Katanani is a refugee – the descendant of refugees from 1948, who was born and raised in the Sabra refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon.
“The barbed wire rounded into a tight circle forms a tornado symbolizing our connection to the past (since the 1948 Nakba), a tornado still swirling in the camp and collecting our generations, lives, hopes, happiness and dreams, and a storm moving toward the future. As for the material, barbed wire represents the occupation [barbed wire is ubiquitous at Israeli checkpoints on the West Bank and along Israel’s Separation Barrier] and the fear and instability of occupied life. In the moment some could interpret it as the tornado of violence in the Arab world, which would also be true.”