Taysir Batniji

Journal d’un Confinement – In/Out

2021
Photography
30 x 23 cm (closed); 137 x 23 cm (open); leporello

Artist’s Statement

I captured moments of (suspended) life, dead time, and lights within my home and on the streets of the 20th arrondissement in Paris, all within the kilometer permitted for daily walks during France’s initial lockdown early in the pandemic. Oddly enough, this situation was reminiscent of the curfews imposed by Israeli occupiers on Palestinians during the first intifada, but unlike the curfew that made us prisoners, a confinement that was supposed to “protect” us.

For me, painting—as was the case during the intifada—or taking photographs during confinement, was less a pastime than a mean of resistance in difficult times.

Biography

Taysir Batniji (b. Palestine, 1966) developed his artistic practice across media, including painting, installation work, photography, video, and performance art while living between France and Palestine in the 2000s. His work explores identity, memory, and place, shedding light on political, geographical, and human realities. Travel and movement are a critical part of his artistic production, and his interaction with new places questions the reality of alienation and exile. He received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from An-Najah National University. Al-Batniji has had a number of solo and group exhibitions in Europe and around the globe since 2002.

Taysir Batniji – Journal d’un Confinement – In/Out

Quarantined in Paris; For Cities Under Quarantine – The Mailbox Project