“Jericho First” takes its theme from an image found in an eighth-century mosaic floor, fully excavated in Jericho, depicting a lion attacking a fleeing gazelle. Borrowing its title from the name of the first stage of the Oslo Accord, the work articulates a connection between the violent hunting scene and the peace agreements. The work uses a serially changing computerized procedure to transform the natural scene of the mosaic, a typical flora and fauna image in Islamic art, to produce two series of metamorphoses in which the lion and its prey become one form. In the first, the lion attacking its predator is slowly expanded into a giant red bubble, so that one sees neither predator nor prey. In the second, the image stretches and narrows into an insect-like hybrid. The overtly aggressive and violent image from the mosaic is in this way manipulated and transformed so that the aggression is now masked and appears as unity and cooperation. While the mythical violent image lurks in both series, their metamorphoses deliver them away from the mythical origin almost to the point of disappearance.
Hisham's Palace (Khirbat al-Mafjar), Mosaic floor, Jericho, 724–43 AD.
“Jericho First” no. 4, 2006. In the exhibition Taking Place, 2006, Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders S. Berg.
“Jericho First” no. 4, 2006. In the exhibition Taking Place, 2006, Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders S. Berg.
“Jericho First” no. 2, 2004. In the exhibition Play-Ground, Beit al-Karma Gallery, Haifa. Photos: Sherene Seikaly.
“Jericho First” no. 2, 2004. In the exhibition Play-Ground, Beit al-Karma Gallery, Haifa. Photos: Sherene Seikaly.
“Jericho First” no. 4, 2006. In the exhibition Sharif Waked–Mini Retrospective, 2007, Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery. Photos: Yakis Kidron.
“Jericho First” no. 4, 2006. In the exhibition Sharif Waked–Mini Retrospective, 2007, Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery. Photos: Yakis Kidron.
“Jericho First” no. 6. In the exhibition New Ends, Old Beginnings, 2008, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool.
“Jericho First” no. 6. In the exhibition New Ends, Old Beginnings, 2008, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool.
Stills from “Jericho First” no. 7, 2012. Video, 1 second (loop), 16:9 (widescreen), red and white, silent.
Stills from “Jericho First” no. 7, 2012. Video, 1 second (loop), 16:9 (widescreen), red and white, silent.
Stills from “Jericho First” no. 8, 2012. Video, 1 second and 3 frames (loop), 16:9 (widescreen), black and white, silent.
Stills from “Jericho First” no. 8, 2012. Video, 1 second and 3 frames (loop), 16:9 (widescreen), black and white, silent.
