Wako Works of Art is pleased to announce If I must die, you must live, an exhibition curated by the Dutch artist Henk Visch, which will be on view from Friday, May 17 to Saturday, June 29, 2024. Focusing on the works of poets and artists from Palestine, the show takes its title from the opening line of a poem written in 2011 by the Palestinian poet Rafeet Alareer (b. 1979). He posted this poem on social media in November 2023, and he was killed in an Israeli airstrike the following month. The message of this poem left by Alareer serves as a central theme underlying the entire exhibition.

If I must die, you must live features new sculptures and drawings by Visch, poetry by Mosab Abu Toha (b. 1992), prints by artist Sliman Mansour (b. 1947), and posters created for Gaza by various artists. It also showcases new work by Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959), who has a long-standing friendship with Visch and endorses the aims of the exhibition.

Born in the Netherlands in 1950, Henk Visch has been recognized since the 1980s for anthropomorphic and abstract sculptures that emerge from his unique poetic and philosophical explorations. He has participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (1988) and Documenta 9 (1992), and since the 2000s he has also been active in Japan, Singapore, China, and elsewhere in Asia. In 2023, Visch was awarded the Wilhelminaring Prize for sculpture, established to commemorate the centenary of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands’ coronation.His award-winning exhibition Dance in the Court of Justice is currently on view at the CODA Museum in the Netherlands.

Mosab Abu Toha was born and raised in a refugee camp in Gaza, and has been immersed in the world of poetry since his youth. His 2022 book of poems Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza won the Palestine Book Award and an American Book Award, and was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in the US. In 2017 he established the Edward Said Public Library, Gaza’ s first English-language library, and from 2017 to 2019 he taught English at a UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) school in Gaza.

Sliman Mansour has been a leading figure on the Palestinian art scene for many years. In 1973 he co-founded the League of Palestinian Artists, and in 1994 he co-founded the al-Wasiti Art Center in East Jerusalem, where he also served as director. During the first Intifada (uprising) circa 1990, he and other artists launched the New Visions Movement, noted for boycotting Israeli supplies and incorporating local materials such as mud, wood, and dyes into their works. Mansour’ s works frequently depict people in traditional dress and the landscapes of Palestine, honoring the memory of its people’s many years of suffering and resistance. His prints will be featured in this exhibition.

Resonating with the ideas, emotions, and words of artists of multiple generations, this exhibition seeks to offer insights into the lives of the Palestinian people, who continue to live under the harshest of conditions. The title of one of Visch’ s works in the show poses a universal question: Que sais-je? (French for “What do I know?”). We invite you to visit the exhibition and reflect on the range of perspectives it presents.