Ahlam Shibli - Dissonant Belonging

The exhibition Dissonant Belonging brings together seven significant photographic projects by the Palestinian artist Ahlam Shibli. Characteristically for her practice, each series combines photography and contextual writing into a single narrative. Beginning with observations on domestic settings and the study of everyday situations, the artist gradually reveals the traumas imprinted in the bodies of oppressed, marginalised, and underrepresented members of society. Direct, yet unspectacular, and always respectful to the protagonists, her photographs afford a fragile space of resistance both to their subjects and their viewers.

Six projects realised between 1997 and 2017 are featured alongside Ahlam Shibli’s most recent work, Belonging (Arles and surroundings, France, 2022–2023), created during her residency at LUMA Arles.