From July 2023 - August 2023 I was selected to be one of the 4 artist-in-residence at El Sur Art Residency Program in Mexico City, Mexico.

During my month in this residency program, I created a body of work entitled ‘Not Cut From the Tree’ مش مقطوع من الشجرة. The title comes from an Arabic idiom that is usually said ‘cut from the tree’, implying a person who has no roots or connections to home. While in Mexico City, many feelings about being away from family and growing up in the Palestinian diaspora were on my mind, and when I came across a collection of old photographs in a library I was inspired to create works inspired by that collection of photographs. The collection of photographs seems to be from the 1960s - 70s, and it felt strange to me that someone would donate or get rid of their family’s archival photographs. To me, this shows a lack of roots, or a disconnection from one’s heritage or history, which is the opposite of what my creative practice and work aims to do.

I also explored a series of collages created during my explorations around Mexico City; I wanted to capture the visual language of the city through my own eyes and experiences, and to bring those elements together in a series of collages that captured my time there.

El Sur is an artist-run residency program located in the southern part of Mexico City that aims to give artists the space and time to experiment with new ideas and work, without interruption, in a creative and engaging environment.