Rana Samara

Rana Samara

Rana Samara

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Rana Samara (born in 1985, Jerusalem) is a Palestinian artist and a graduate of the International Art Academy, Ramallah (2015). Samara grew up in a typical Palestinian family.  In her words: “I spent most of my childhood and teenage years observing and analyzing social and gender relations. I came to understand how precious yet also suffocating women’s roles as carers and nurturers can be.”

Samara’s project – Intimate Space – explores societal norms, sexuality, gender roles, and other factors associated with modern Palestinian life. Her work focuses on the less obvious factors that underpin the daily lives of women who reside in overcrowded refugee camps and rural communities – women whose lives continue to be blighted both by conservative traditions and the exigencies of life under occupation.

Focusing on marital intimacy, Samara demystifies many social taboos and translates these onto large, bold, and colorful canvases that are both remarkable social statements and beautiful artistic constructs. Frank conversations with women form the backbone of her work that transcends the private space into the realm of the public. Often depicting the aftermath of sexual encounters, Samara’s paintings are remarkable visual metaphors of the lives of Palestinian women existing in restricted environments, cramped and constrained by internal traditions and by external forces.

Samara has participated in several exhibitions, including Contemporary Istanbul, Turkey, 2019; Art Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2019; Beirut Art Fair, Lebanon, 2017; and Art Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2017. In addition to several local solo exhibitions in Ramallah and Jerusalem. 

She investigates the social contexts of sexuality in which she draws inspiration predominantly from personal encounters with women she meets: “I have intimate and continuous conversations with them about virginity, intimacy, sexual desire, gender norms, their convictions and relationships and roles vis à vis the younger generations and these conversations form the cornerstone of my research.” Samara’s works span across diverse mediums such as film, video, installation, and embroidery but her current focus is large-scale paintings. Samara graduated in 2015 from the International Academy of Art in Ramallah.

Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Untitled (2022), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

 

  • Works available by Rana Samara via Artsy
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  • View Rana Samara’s latest body of work here

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Intimate Space | Zawyeh at Contemporary Istanbul 2019

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September 12 – September 15, 2019
Istanbul, Turkey

 

Palestinian Intimate Space Exposed in Contemporary Istanbul

Female artist explores the subjects of intimacy and desire under occupation

Breaking taboos and venturing into unexplored territory, Rana Samara is a Palestinian artist born in Jerusalem who investigates the social contexts of sexuality within Palestinian society in her paintings.  Following the success of her participation in Art Dubai 2017 and in Art Beirut 2017, Samara’s work debuts at Contemporary Istanbul 2019. The works exhibited by Zawyeh Gallery (BOOTH B203, 12 – 15 September 2019) expose what appears to be typical domestic scenes, but on closer inspection small details become large clues – lingerie peeks out from beneath rumpled sheets, belts hang from the bedstead, a half-used pack of Viagra linger – telling signs, which provide a narrative for the foregone ‘crime’ or proscribed act.

Intimate spaces are translated into large-scale canvases, and continuous frank conversations with women become the backbone of her work, thus transcending the private sphere into the realm of the public.  In Samara’s words: “Intimate stories and female wisdom through experience are the sources of inspiration for me and for my practice.” She continues: “That said, perhaps my own experiences are a latent inspiration too.”

This inspiration for this particular subject began after a walk in Al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah, which she recalls as such: “I began wondering about the sex life of couples living in such condensed spaces that affords them almost no privacy. This privacy is especially difficult to achieve considering the large size of most Palestinian families and the cramped proximity in which neighbors and families live to each other.

These bedrooms are familiar domestic spaces, but in these paintings, they are transformed into the repository of social neurosis and taboos that Samara seeks to scrutinize and demystify. Virginity, intimacy, sexual desire, gender, social norms –subjects, which are so pertinent in both the female realm and the society at large but they are often hidden, unexplored or even dismissed at an artistic level in the context of a nation still struggling under years of military occupation.

Samara grew up in a typical Palestinian family.  In her words: “I spent most of my childhood and teenage years observing and analyzing social and gender relations. I came to understand how precious, yet also suffocating women’s roles as carers and nurturers can be.”

She investigates the social contexts of sexuality in which she draws inspiration predominantly from personal encounters with women she meets: “I have intimate and continuous conversations with them about virginity, intimacy, sexual desire, gender norms, their convictions and relationships and roles vis à vis the younger generations and these conversations form the cornerstone of my research.” Samara’s works span across diverse mediums such as film, video, installation, and embroidery but her current focus is large-scale paintings. Samara graduated in 2015 from the International Academy of Art in Ramallah.

Palestinian Art Contemporary Istanbul Palestinian Art Contemporary Istanbul

Intimate Space by Rana Samara
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #9, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 170 × 290 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #20, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 210 x 340 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #20, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 210 x 340 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #17, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 150 × 365 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #17, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 150 × 365 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #18, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 208 x 264 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #18, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 208 x 264 cm

 
  • Works available by Rana Samara via Artsy
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Galleries at MAS, Abu Dhabi

Zawyeh at Galleries at MAS Abu Dhabi 2019

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April 8 – June 8, 2019
Booth A2, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi

 

Zawyeh Gallery is participating at the 2019 Galleries at MAS, Abu Dhabi, featuring works by Nabil Anani, Rafat Asad, Tayseer Barakat, Hosni Radwan, Rana Samara, and Vera Tamari.

Zawyeh Gallery’s art fair selection captures diverse works by emerging and established artists from Palestine and the diaspora, as the only Palestinian Gallery represented at the art fair. These works are the personal aesthetic elucidations of individual artists whose lives are intertwined by their collective memory and experiences as Palestinian artists enduring similar fates relating to disenfranchisement and loss.

The following are biographical information on the participating artists:

  • Nabil Anani (b.1943, Latroun, Palestine) is one of the most prominent Palestinian artists working today. He is considered by many as a key founder of the contemporary Palestinian art movement.  
  • Tayseer Barakat was born in Gaza in 1959 and completed his arts education in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1983. After completing his studies, he moved to Ramallah where he has since based – both teaching and creating art.
  • Hosni Radwan was born in Baghdad in 1955. He studied fine arts at the University of Baghdad specializing in graphics. He held a number of solo exhibitions in Iraq, Lebanon, Cyprus, Japan and Palestine.
  • Vera Tamari was born in Jerusalem in 1945. She received a B.A. in fine arts in 1966 from the Beirut College for Women (now the Lebanese American University) in Lebanon.
  • Shada Safadi is a visual artist born in Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights. She finished a two-year-class in painting and etching at Adham Ismail Institute in Damascus in 2003, before she joined the department of painting at Damascus University, in which she graduated from with a degree in fine arts in 2005
Galleries at MAS Palestinian Art Galleries at MAS Palestinian Art
Galleries at MAS, Taysser Barakat
Tayseer Barakat, The Dance, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 41 x 47 cm
Galleries at MAS, Hosni Radwan
Hosni Radwan, Out of Place #15, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 67 x 67 cm
Galleries at MAS, Vera Tamari
Vera Tamari, Like in a Dream, 2014, watercolour on paper, 30 x 40 cm
Galleries at MAS, Rafat Asad
Rafat Asad, Marj Ibn Amer #12, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 90 cm
Galleries at MAS, Nabil Anani
Nabil Anani, Kobar, 2013, mixed media on paper, 65 x 50 cm
Galleries at MAS, Shada Safadi
Shada Safadi, Limitless, 2018, etching, monotype, 35 x 35 cm

 
Rana Samara Art Dubai Banner

Art Dubai 2019 – Rana Samara’s War Games

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Art Dubai 2019
March 20 – March 23, 2019
Booth C12, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

 

Rana Samara’s War Games takes us to the imaginative worlds of refugee children living in Gaza and elsewhere in the region. Exploring the social and political locked in a child’s dream or rather nightmare, Samara highlights the plight of children in a turbulent region dreaming of fixing their own worlds and being able to simply “play.”

Dispossessed and traumatized by military war and occupations, children living in camps dreaming of far away life were asked by Samara to draw their re-occurring dreams. Unsurprisingly, they illustrated personal stories that revolved predominantly around “play”. Samara translates those drawings on large stretches of canvases using striking bright colors and vivid ornaments as if she is trying to reflect the size and value of life details found in those dreams in her huge scaled, colorful paintings. Prosthetic implants, an empty Mackintosh chocolate tin full of thread coils, huge Lego bricks, and various computer games are a glimpse of what lies behind intimate personal stories into which she delves.

Children dream of games they yearn to play and objects that bring them feelings of safety and comfort within one’s own home and family re-occurs to become part of lifelong memories and influences. It is no wonder that Samara addresses this topic in particular as an adult. For it is her own experience as a child that sparked this project. Samara started this project by drawing “Super Mario”, stemming from her own childhood experience when Israeli soldiers stormed her own home and kicked her and her family out, and ransacked the house. Samara never forgot that they disturbed a “Super Mario” game that she was playing preventing her to complete it and losing a “life” on screen eventually.

While re-occurring dreams reflect trauma and wounds that can leave an indelible mark on adult life, dreaming of playing simply reflects the dire lives of these children born and raised in “transient” homes that become permanently “transitional.” Makeshift structures that house impoverished and densely packed populations of refugees lack the basic infrastructure of services, with no adequate personal space that allows children sufficient room to play.

Samara’s previous project, Intimate Space, explored the intimate and social aspects of living in refugee camps. In War Games, Samara continues this pursuit of bringing fundamental and intimate issues facing refugees into the public realm, unearthing subjects that are rarely explored artistically.

Rana Samara Art Dubai 2019 Rana Samara Art Dubai 
Rana Samara, PUBG, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 210 x 245 cm
Rana Samara, PUBG, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 210 x 245 cm
Rana Samara, Beit Byoot, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 207 x 500 cm
Rana Samara, Beit Byoot, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 207 x 500 cm
Rana Samara, Mackintosh Tin, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 157 x 150 cm
Rana Samara, Mackintosh Tin, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 157 x 150 cm
Rana Samara, Prosthetics, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 207 x 530 cm
Rana Samara, Prosthetics, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 207 x 530 cm
Rana Samara, Super Mario, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 213 x 233 cm
Rana Samara, Super Mario, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 213 x 233 cm
Rana Samara, Candy Crush, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 213 x 167 cm
Rana Samara, Candy Crush, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 213 x 167 cm
Rana Samara, Lego, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 214 x 250 cm
Rana Samara, Lego, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 214 x 250 cm
Rana Samara, Harb Darb, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 206 x 176 cm
Rana Samara, Harb Darb, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 206 x 176 cm

 
  • Works available by Rana Samara via Artsy
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Rana Samara Art Dubai Banner

Intimate Space | Zawyeh at Art Dubai 2017

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March 15 – March 18, 2017
Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

 

In Rana Samara’s Intimate Space we witness what appears to be a typical domestic scene, but on closer inspection small details reveal telling clues – lingerie peeks out from beneath rumpled sheets, belts hang from the bedstead, a half-used pack of Viagra lingers – signs which tell a story of what has gone before, the desultory evidence of intimacy. These bedrooms are familiar domestic spaces, but in Samara’s paintings they are transformed into repositories of social neuroses and taboos that the artist both seeks to scrutinize and demystify. Virginity. Intimacy. Sexual desire. Gender. Social norms. These issues, so pertinent in both the female realm and the society at large, are often hidden, unexplored or even dismissed at an artistic level in the context of a nation still struggling under years of military occupation.
Her artwork affirms the feminist conviction that the personal is the political. Intimate spaces are translated into large-scale canvases, and continuous frank conversations with women become the backbone of her work, transcending the private sphere and placing it in the realm of the public. Samara’s work challenges these notions of not only what women can discuss but what issues are valid in society as she invites the viewer to intrude in the daily lives and experiences of women towards greater empathy and understanding.
The light and playful mood of her paintings also demand our reconsideration of these sites of intimacy as a place of shame. For her, issues of sex and sexuality must become public discourse, and so public engagement is of utmost necessity. For Virginity Handkerchiefs groups of men and women were invited to consider their understanding of a tradition whereby a blood-stained handkerchief must be presented as ‘proof’ of a woman’s maidenhood on her wedding night by producing their own ‘virginity’ handkerchiefs. In doing so, the barrier between the private and the public is dissolved and thus the artwork and its creative process become a site of candid discussion and analysis of social norms.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Samara’s works embrace diverse mediums such as film, video installation, sculpture, embroidery, and painting. Mundane household objects are reclaimed – handkerchiefs and oven mitts – and a story in the ordinary materializes, one that alludes to both the female wisdom that influences her practice and the ‘suffocating [female] roles’ that she witnessed as a child growing up.
Samara is one of Palestine’s finest young talents with work that bridges many disciplines. Her commitment to art, subject matter, and social issues pushes the boundaries of society’s conventions and progresses her work from an exploration of the self into an awakening of dialogue born from personal and collective experience.

Rana Samara Art Dubai Rana Samara Art Dubai Rana Samara Art Dubai
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #10, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 208 x 323 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #10, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 208 x 323 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #13, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 210 x 217 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #13 (2016), acrylic on canvas, 210 x 217 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #3, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 175 x 200 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #3 (2015), acrylic on canvas, 175 x 200 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #9, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 170 x 290 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #9, (2015), acrylic on canvas, 170 x 290 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #12, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 163 x 303 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #12, (2016), acrylic on canvas, 163 x 303 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #5, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 171 x 201 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #5 (2015), acrylic on canvas, 171 x 201 cm

Artist Statement

I have always been intrigued by both the stories and untold silences women transfer from one generation to another, in particular from mothers to daughters. Women hide great stories, and if you give them the opportunity, they will make great storytellers. Intimate stories and female wisdom are the sources of inspiration for me and for my practice. That said, perhaps my own experiences are a latent inspiration too. I grew up in a typical Palestinian family and consequently spent most of my childhood and teenage years observing and analyzing social and gender relations. I came to understand how precious yet also suffocating women’s roles as carers and nurturers can be.
Women, gender and sexual relations comprise the backbone of my work. It all started after a walk in Al-Amari refugee camp where I began wondering about the sex life of couples living in such condensed spaces that affords them almost no privacy. This privacy is especially difficult to achieve considering the large size of most Palestinian families and the cramped proximity in which neighbors and families live to each other. In my research, I investigate the social contexts of sexuality and rely on the personal testimonies of the women I met. I had conversations with them about virginity, intimacy, sexual desire, gender norms, and their convictions, relationships, and roles vis a vis the younger generations. These conversations form the cornerstone of my research for my practice, in which I utilize various forms, including painting, video, installation, and also embroidery.
Bedrooms reflect a woman’s social class, sexual life, and the amount of privacy they have – and at times can even resemble a crime scene. I explore the question of where we are positioned as a viewer to these rooms and how through voyeuristically intruding on the scene we are able to sense the lives of the women who inhabit and perform their sexuality in these rooms and the relationship between place and social norms. As Palestinian society is predominantly conservative, virginity is extremely important and proof of it is still sought by the groom’s family. This proof usually takes the form of a blood-stained handkerchief that is shown to the women in the family after the wedding night. For this project, I gave handkerchiefs to different men and women and asked them to embroider upon them their views and understanding of this longstanding tradition. Working across different mediums and forms enables me to explore intimate and taboo questions of female sexuality in my society.
I wonder what kind of intimate situations are born in space and how many stories there are to share, and I am keen to explore how this manifests in different places, contexts, and corners of public space.

 
 
  • Available works by Rana Samara via Artsy
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Intimate Space by Rana Samara

Intimate Space by Rana Samara

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Intimate space by Rana Samara

Intimate Space by Rana Samara

INTIMATE SPACE 
RANA SAMARA

13 AUGUST - 10 SEPTEMBER 2016

 

“I have always been intrigued by both the stories and untold silences women transfer from one generation to another, in particular from mothers to daughters. Women hide great stories, and if you give them the opportunity, they will make great storytellers. Intimate stories and female wisdom through experience are the inspiration sources for me and my practice. That said, perhaps my own experiences are a latent inspiration too. I grew up in a typical Palestinian family and consequently spent most of my childhood and teenage years observing and analyzing social and gender relations. I came to understand how precious yet also suffocating women’s roles as carers and nurturers can be.

“My first academic experience with the visual arts was at the Palestine Technical College in Ramallah, where I completed a two-year diploma in graphic design. However, the program did not fulfill my desire for knowledge. In the theory lectures, we always touched upon Contemporary Art, and it made me want to explore this area in greater depth. I, therefore, applied to the International Academy of Art in Palestine to study BA in Contemporary Visual Arts. It allowed me to develop a broad scope in the understanding and practice of visual arts across the medium of photography, installation, painting, video, social intervention, and theoretical studies.

“Women, gender, and sexual relations comprise the backbone of my work; It all started after a walk in Al-Amari refugee camp, where I began wondering about the sex life of couples living in such condensed spaces that affords them almost no privacy. This privacy is especially difficult to achieve considering the large size of most Palestinian families and the cramped proximity in which neighbors and families live with each other. In my research, I investigate the social contexts of sexuality, in which I rely mostly on my personal relations with various women I met. I have intimate and continuous conversations with them about virginity, intimacy, sexual desire, gender norms, their convictions and relationships, and roles vis à vis the younger generations, and these conversations form the cornerstone of my research for my practice in which I utilize various forms including painting, video, installation and also embroidery. My practice currently focuses on painting, both for the potential of the medium as well as its historical references and contexts.

Intimate Space focuses on the question of women’s bedrooms, which reflect a woman’s social class, sexual life, the amount of privacy they have, and at times can even resemble a crime scene. I explore the question of where we are positioned as a viewer of these rooms and how through voyeuristically intruding on the scene, we are able to sense the lives of the women who inhabit and perform their sexuality in these rooms and the relationship between place and social norms. Currently, I am working on a body of work that focuses on the question of virginity. As Palestinian society is predominantly conservative, virginity is extremely important and proof of it is still sought by the groom’s family. This proof usually takes the form of a blood-stained handkerchief that is shown to the women in the family after the wedding night. For this project, I gave 50 handkerchiefs to different men and women and asked them to embroider upon them their views and understanding of this longstanding tradition. Working across different mediums and forms enables me to explore intimate and taboo questions of female sexuality in my society.

“My recent research moves these above questions into the realm of public space and how it can become an intimate space within seconds. I wonder what kind of intimate situations are born in space and how many stories there are to share, and I am keen to explore how this manifests in different places, contexts, and corners of public space.

“Since my graduation last year from the International Academy of Art in Palestine, I have continued to work on the above-mentioned themes in my artwork. I have recently showcased two of my artworks at the French-German cultural center in Ramallah in the exhibition “Disrupted Intimacies,” which brought together a selection of artworks from the graduates of the International Academy of Art for the first time. The selected artworks focused on the above-mentioned conversations I had with women on the subject of social taboos – female sexuality, virginity, intimacy, sexual desire, and gender norms – and these were shown through the medium of a large-scale painting of domestic spaces.

Intimate Space Rana Samara Palestinian Art Rana Samara Palestinian Art Rana Samara Palestinian Art Intimate Space Rana Samara Palestinian Art Rana Samara Palestinian Art Rana Samara Palestinian Art

Rana Samara, Intimate Space #13, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 210 x 217 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #13 (2016), acrylic on canvas, 210 x 217 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #12, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 163 x 303 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #12, (2016), acrylic on canvas, 163 x 303 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #5, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 171 x 201 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #5 (2015), acrylic on canvas, 171 x 201 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #9, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 170 x 290 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #9, (2015), acrylic on canvas, 170 x 290 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #3, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 175 x 200 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #3 (2015), acrylic on canvas, 175 x 200 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #17, (2017), acrylic on canvas, 142 x 350 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #17, (2016), acrylic on canvas, 142 x 350 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #10, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 208 x 323 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #10 (2015), acrylic on canvas, 208 x 323 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #4, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 170 x 170 cm
Rana Samara, Intimate Space #4 (2014), acrylic on canvas, 170 x 170 cm