Joanna Barakat: Imposter Series

Joanna Barakat, Imposter in Palestine, from the Imposter series (2017). Courtesy of the artist.

Courtesy of the artist.

“I am an imposter. My cultural national identities are woven from the threads of nostalgic stories, none of which are my own. Having left Palestine as an infant, I have always felt like a foreigner in my native land. I reconstructed my identity with snapshots of what my story could have been by inserting myself as a child into the backdrop of daily Palestinian life. A few of the original photographs of Palestinian street scenes were shot during the filming of my final project for Central Saint Martins, a film about the physical and psychological borders faced by Palestinians that was later shown at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art. The rest of the photographs were taken while doing research for my master’s dissertation about Palestinian street art for the School of oriental and African Studies, University of London. Instead of another tale from the diaspora, a new narrative emerges from these manipulated photographs restoring a sense of indisputable belonging.”

Through various mediums and techniques, Joanna Barakat’s work is predominantly portraits that explore how we interpret and understand our identity while expressing her feelings about the current situation in Palestine and how that affects the construction of her own cultural identity. Interested in alternative forms of communication, she brings together elements of photography, Palestinian Embroidery and street art to challenge and question collective ideas and stereotypes using a reimagined contemporary Palestinian aesthetic.

Her family moved to the united States form Jerusalem when she was a year old when her father decided to open his ancient art gallery in Beverly Hills. Her deep understanding of art and her own visual language emerged from having grown up surrounded by art from all ancient civilizations. She moved to London for University when she did her BA at Central Saint Martins and her MA at the school of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is now living in Abu Dhabi.