Taysir Batniji in residency in the United States

15 Mar 2018
23 Sep 2018
Taysir Batniji, from the project "Home Away from Home", 2017. Production Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, in partnership with Aperture Fondation. Courtesy of the artist
Taysir Batniji, from the project "Home Away from Home", 2017. Production Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, in partnership with Aperture Fondation. Courtesy of the artist
Taysir Batniji, from the project "Home Away from Home", 2017. Production Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, in partnership with Aperture Fondation. Courtesy of the artist
Taysir Batniji, from the project "Home Away from Home", 2017. Production Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, in partnership with Aperture Fondation. Courtesy of the artist
The third laureate of Immersion, a French-American Photography Commission, Taysir Batniji travelled to the United States to meet cousins that he barely knew. A singular and intimate portrait of his own familial diaspora, his project also raises universal questions surrounding exile and the construction of identity. An artist’s book and an exhibition at the Aperture Gallery in New York retrace this exceptional residency, which was carried out under the mentorship of Sam Stourdzé, director of the Rencontres d’Arles.

Between January and July 2017, Franco-Palestinian photographer Taysir Batniji (b. 1966, Palestine) shared the everyday life of his ‘American cousins’ who have lived in California and Florida for several decades. Whilst staying in their homes, he looked to understand them through the spaces in which they live and the objects that belong to them, photographing his cousins and recording their stories. At the same time, he plunged into his own memories, drawing his family home in Gaza from memory. This collection of works, on view in the exhibition and the accompanying publication, raises various fascinating questions. What does it mean to share a history? How do our relationship to the past and our sense of belonging change when we choose a new home, a new life? With this project, Taysir Batniji, who has lived in France since 1995, was able to extend the exploration of geographic and cultural in-betweens that lies at the heart of his practice.

Through Immersion, an annual programme of joint residencies, exhibitions and publications dedicated to photographers, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès supports contemporary photography by facilitating the creation, exhibition and publication of new work. The alternating programme is open to photographers based in France, who are mentored by a French professional as they create original work in the United States, and the following year supports a photographer based in the United States, mentored by an anglophone professional as they pursue an original work in France.

Disciplines
Photography
Visual arts
Lieu
Aperture Gallery
New York
United States
The Franco-Palestinian photographer Taysir Batniji travelled to the United States to meet cousins whom he barely knew.
His project explores how people’s relationship to the past evolves in cultural and geographic in-betweens.
His residency, under the mentorship of Sam Stourdzé, director of the Rencontres d’Arles, is retraced in an exhibition and an artist’s book.

Information

  • Practical information

    Taysir Batniji, “Home Away from Home”, from 15/03/2018 to 10/05/2018

    Aperture Gallery, New York

    aperture.org

     

    The series Home Away from Home is presented as part of Taysir Batniji’s solo exhibition at the Rencontres d’Arles from 02/07/2018 until 09/23/2018. This show forms part of a thematic cycle for this year’s edition of the Rencontres.

  • Available in bookstores

    Taysir Batniji, Home Away from Home, published by the Aperture / Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, 2018

See also