A flower sticks on the ground of the floor leading to the exhibition “To be or…”, a partnership between the Faculty of Fine Arts of An-Najah University, the French Cultural Centre of Nablus, the University of Paris VIII and the city of Lille – twin town of Nablus. The exhibition, which presents a collection of self portraits developed by 13 students of An-Najah’s Faculty of Fine Arts, is housed on the third floor of this faculty and will stay there for around the next ten days, and is open for all those who are interested in having a look.
Fabienne Laumonier, a French artist currently living in Brussels, is responsible for the creation of the exhibition, together with three French musicians. During the last three weeks she has developed a workshop on the subject of the self portrait to help the students create their own pieces. The workshop has been attended by thirteen students and is going to be followed by another one on the topic “The sounds of the city” due to its success. For Rana Yassin, a 20-year-old student in Interior Design, this experience has greatly helped her to develop her skills as an artist, “I choose my road”, she says about her professional goals of being an artist, “and participating in this workshop has helped me to walk on this road”.
The exhibition was inaugurated by the General Consul of the French Consulate in Jerusalem, Alain Remy, who declared he was “very impressed by the high number of visitors”. He insisted on the importance of the partnership between the institutions that have made this collective project possible, but underlined that the exhibition is more than anything the result of collaboration between the students. Mr. Rami Hamdallah, President of An-Najah National University emphasized his gratitude towards the French people for helping Palestinians in difficult times and thanked the consulate for the projector the university has received.
The exhibition shows a series of self-portraits created by the students that combine graphics, photography, painting, mirror reflections, collage and sounds. Amir Abu-Zeit is one of the participants of the exhibition, his work, entitled “It couldn’t get out”, and is an original reflection of his personal feelings through sounds. With the aid of two CDs combining music and words in different languages his work states that “words cannot express feelings”, and is not to be missed…
Guatuor Renoir played its concert of Schumann and Beethoven in an event that was attended by the University President and its students. The performance of the players of Guatuor Renoir, founded ten years ago in Paris, was greatly admired by the audience. While some of its members have worked in Radio Paris, the band also got some prizes in Bordaux, Léon and Beasanson and has played in different places such as the Czech Republic, Canada, Britain and Palestine.