Signs of the ravaged lands

Signs of the ravaged lands I & II

In this research project, I examine the Israeli-Palestinian crisis that has intensified since October 7, 2023.
Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the war machine from Nomadology: The War Machine, I argue
that this force has undergone a metamorphosis, no longer standing in opposition to the State but instead
being fully appropriated by it. In the case of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the State itself has become
the war machine, an apparatus of destruction operating under its own logic of power and territorial control.
By integrating the diagrams of Canadian scholar Jacob Vangeest, I construct a cartography of this crisis,
incorporating archival materials and photographs of books sourced from the Palestinian Museum Digital
Archive. These book covers act as war’s survivors, fragments of a devastated landscape, silent witnesses
to destruction. Once conveyors of knowledge, the books now exist as ruins, marked by the violence
of genocide. Though they remain innocent, the State fractures their chains of signification, rendering
them mute yet undeniable evidence of crimes against humanity.

Palestinian Museum Digital Archive, book covers
From left to right:
A Driver’s Book of Accounts, Ya’bad, The Karam Zaid al-Kilani Collection
The Balfour Declaration, an Analysis, The Talal Kanaan Collection
The Holy Bible, Jerusalem, The National Orthodox Communal Council-Haifa Collection
A collection of poems written and compiled by Omar Saleh Al Barghouthi when he was in prison
The Omar and Nael al-Barghouthi Collection
The Palestine Police Manual by A. J. Kingsley Heath, The al-Mintar Collection

Palestinian Museum Digital Archive
On top: A Document from a Tapu Book, The Asmahan Misyef Collection
Underneath: Debt and Safe-Keeps Registration Book for Mahmoud Makhamreh,
The Village of Jinba, The Mahmoud Ahmad Makhamreh Collection
On top (overlay): Photographs from the Magnum Archive website, presented as a contact sheet
The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Prague, Czechia, 2024

Signs of the ravaged lands (II)
Laser cut/wood, ICC application form for individuals / cropped, Palestinian Museum Digital Archive, book covers.
Prague Microfestival, Underground of Kampus Hybernská, Prague, Czechia, 2025