Larissa SANSOUR (b. 1973, Est Jerusalem, Palestine) studied fine arts in London, New York and Copenhagen. Her work is immersed in the current political dialogue and utilises video, photography, installation and sculpture. Central to her work is the tug and pull between fiction and reality in a Middle Eastern context.
A recent interest is the dialectics between myth and history. In several pieces over the past years, she has been exploring not only the sci-fi genre, but also the comic book superhero. Both forms have an inherent ability to communicate the most fundamental ambitions of a people or a civilization in a way that is naturally inspired by, but never hampered or restricted by a non-fictional reality. Also, despite its high production value and glossy imagery, sci-fi tends to allow for a specific kind of almost nostalgia framing of the topic at hand. Even the slickest sci-fi almost invariably carries within it a sense of retro, ideas of the future tend to appear standard and cliché at the same time as they come across as visionary.
In the case of Palestine, there is an eternal sense of forecasting statehood, independence and the end of occupation. The ambitious ideas that we hope to achieve have long since become so repetitive that the odd mix of nostalgia and accomplishment that the sci-fi genre often embodies lends it itself well to the topic.
In a recent series of works, Sansour has been exploring the role of archaeology for nation building and national identity. In the absense of a viable peace process in Israel/Palestine, archaeology has long since become a battleground for settling territorial disputes. In her pieces, she explores and reverses the archaeological methodology in an attempt to influence colonialist narratives and manipulate history.
Sansour's work has featured in the biennials of Istanbul, Busan and Liverpool. She has exhibited at venues such as Tate Modern (London); Centre Pompidou (Paris); LOOP (Seoul); Al Hoash (Jerusalem); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid); Centre for Photography (Sydney); Cornerhouse (Manchester); Townhouse (Cairo); Maraya Arts Centre; (Sharjah, UAE); Empty Quarter (Dubai); Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume (Paris); Iniva (London); Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris); Third Guangzhou Triennial (Guangzhou, China); Louisiana Museum of Contemporary Art (Denmark); House of World Cultures (Berlin) and MoCA (Hiroshima).
Recent solo exhibitions include New Art Exchange (Nottingham); Mosaic Rooms (London); Turku Art Museum (Finland); Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Photographic Center (Copenhagen); Kulturhuset (Stockholm); Lawrie Shabibi (Dubai); Sabrina Amrani (Madrid) and DEPO (Istanbul).
Larissa Sansour lives and works in London (UK).
A recent interest is the dialectics between myth and history. In several pieces over the past years, she has been exploring not only the sci-fi genre, but also the comic book superhero. Both forms have an inherent ability to communicate the most fundamental ambitions of a people or a civilization in a way that is naturally inspired by, but never hampered or restricted by a non-fictional reality. Also, despite its high production value and glossy imagery, sci-fi tends to allow for a specific kind of almost nostalgia framing of the topic at hand. Even the slickest sci-fi almost invariably carries within it a sense of retro, ideas of the future tend to appear standard and cliché at the same time as they come across as visionary.
In the case of Palestine, there is an eternal sense of forecasting statehood, independence and the end of occupation. The ambitious ideas that we hope to achieve have long since become so repetitive that the odd mix of nostalgia and accomplishment that the sci-fi genre often embodies lends it itself well to the topic.
In a recent series of works, Sansour has been exploring the role of archaeology for nation building and national identity. In the absense of a viable peace process in Israel/Palestine, archaeology has long since become a battleground for settling territorial disputes. In her pieces, she explores and reverses the archaeological methodology in an attempt to influence colonialist narratives and manipulate history.
Sansour's work has featured in the biennials of Istanbul, Busan and Liverpool. She has exhibited at venues such as Tate Modern (London); Centre Pompidou (Paris); LOOP (Seoul); Al Hoash (Jerusalem); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid); Centre for Photography (Sydney); Cornerhouse (Manchester); Townhouse (Cairo); Maraya Arts Centre; (Sharjah, UAE); Empty Quarter (Dubai); Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume (Paris); Iniva (London); Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris); Third Guangzhou Triennial (Guangzhou, China); Louisiana Museum of Contemporary Art (Denmark); House of World Cultures (Berlin) and MoCA (Hiroshima).
Recent solo exhibitions include New Art Exchange (Nottingham); Mosaic Rooms (London); Turku Art Museum (Finland); Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Photographic Center (Copenhagen); Kulturhuset (Stockholm); Lawrie Shabibi (Dubai); Sabrina Amrani (Madrid) and DEPO (Istanbul).
Larissa Sansour lives and works in London (UK).