Past Residents Jack Persekian
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New Gate
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Hanging
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Jaffa Gate
Jack Persekian is the founder and Director of Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art and Gallery Anadiel in Jerusalem. He previously held the position of Director and Head Curator of the Palestinian Museum (2012–2015); Founding Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation (2009–2011); Artistic Director of the Sharjah Biennial (2007–2011); Head Curator of the Sharjah Biennial (2004–2007); Founder and Artistic Director of The Jerusalem Show (2007–present), and Qalandiya International (2012-14).
Persekian is recipient of the Order of Culture, Science and Arts, Innovation level, from the State of Palestine (2016).
I intend to search the photographic archives of Suomenlinna and reflect on its role in the Finnish Civil War, particularly the year 1918, coincidentally the year Jerusalem (where I come from) was witnessing one of its biggest transformations in recent history. Suomenlinna in 1918 witnessed one of the ugliest faces of Finland’s civil war, when a prison camp was set up there and where thousands perished due to hunger, diseases, and execution. Studying these moments of fissure and brutality could possibly help put in perspective ongoing conflicts and injustices, and their ramifications in the world.