Body Remains’ Flavoured Jellies , 2024
Jellie cubes. 2x2 cm. nails, hair, period discharges



The question of “How the apocalyptic self manifests as a mode of resistance for a Palestinian navigating the ongoing Nakba while living within a white Western context” has haunted me throughout my experience residing in Europe.

In response to this question, “Body Remains' Flavoured Jellies” emerged as an artistic experiment. This mirrors the concept of "Redisbecoming," a term that the queer Palestinian poet George Abraham coined to describe the ongoing transformation of the self. This reconfiguration is not a voluntary transformation but a necessary adaptation to survive the relentless cycles of Nakbas and oppression enacted by white colonial Western powers against Palestinians and all indigenous communities. For Abraham, the apocalyptic-self is the situation in which the body hosts fragments of many selves—  the selves one survived to work towards the self one is becoming. The selves one had to kill to become.

The jellies are made of my own body remains—hair, nails, and period discharges—cooked with gelatin powder to create jelly cubes. This process mirrors the disembodiment and reconfiguration of the self, the physical and existential fragments of my body as Palestinian. Presented as a familiar Western and American dessert, these jellies are meant to be served to Western leaders who support the Israeli genocide against Palestinians, shaped in a form they recognise. It is an invitation to taste the bitterness of their actions, hoping that eating it can heal their deaf, blind peace.

This work is deeply influenced by my previous experiences living within a white Western system in Sweden, where I struggled to navigate a discriminatory environment while witnessing yet another Nakba. It is a reflection on the apocalyptic self—a self that emerges from layers of historical trauma, continually redefined by the ongoing genocide against Palestinians. This apocalyptic self, resilient and defiant, stands as a mode of resistance, challenging the erasure and silencing of Palestinian voices.

The irony lies in my current experience as a Palestinian witnessing the ongoing Nakba while living in the physical and social structure of the aftermath of one previous Nakba, Mohammad Ameen refugee camp, an unofficial Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan.

As an extension to this project, a gathering on a rooftop of one of a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan has been organised.