Rehab Nazzal is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

-born multidisciplinary artist based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada.

Life

Nazzal holds a PhD in Art and Visual Culture from the University of Western Ontario (Canada), an MFA from Ryerson University (Toronto), a BFA from the University of Ottawa, and a BA in Economics from

Damascus University The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...

(Syria).

Work

Nazzal uses sound, video and the photographic image in her work to present contemporary war technology and its destructive effect on civilians, residential dwellings, infrastructures, and the environment. Often, her work creates immersive environments that represent the tragic conditions in Palestine with previous bodies of work centered on Gaza, the Negev Prison and the village of Bil’in. Nazzal's 2014 exhibition ''Invisible'' at the Karsh-Masson Art Gallery on the ground floor of city hall in Ottawa was publicly condemned by Israel's ambassador to Canada, Rafael Barak. The exhibition included images of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, among other art pieces that portray the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and Gaza. ''Invisible'' featured four videos and 1,700 photographs. One video, ''Bil'in'', was about Nazzal's experience in the village of Bil'in where Palestinians and members of international solidarity movements were physically attacked by the Israel Defense Forces during a weekly protest against land confiscation. Nazzal kept the sound intact and reconstructed the image to "represent the feeling of being suffocated and blinded by tear gas." Another video, ''Target'', consisted of over 127 flashing images of Palestinians who were extrajudicially assassinated across the world or in occupied Palestine. Nazzal edited the images to flash quickly as a formal choice to represent the fact that these individuals's lives were cut short. In 2014 Nazzal's work was exhibited at the

Art Gallery of Mississauga The Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM) is a public, not-for-profit art gallery in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the Mississauga Civic Centre right on Celebration Square across from Square One Mall. The Gallery is open six days per ...

. The exhibition, titled ''Visible'', was an immersive installation using found images alongside sound and video works that confronted viewers with the destruction wrought by the violence in Gaza. In 2012, Nazzal's work was exhibited in, ''A Refusal of Images'', a group show at

A Space A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

Gallery, in

curated by Vicky Moufawad-Paul. In 2010, ''Divide'', a solo exhibition of Nazzal's photographs was on display at Gallery 101 in Ottawa. Nazzal has exhibited her work internationally, including at the International Yellowknife Film Festival, Montreal Palestine Film festival, SAW video for the Media Arts, International Mini Print Festival, Gallery 101, and Ottawa X-photography Festival. Nazzal has received numerous awards and grants including Edmund and Isobel Ryan Visual Arts award in photography, University of Ottawa, Documentary Photography for Social Justice Award, Ryerson University, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Ryerson University Scholarship.

Shooting

In December 2015, Nazzal was shot in the leg by a sniper while in Israel, photographing activities of the

Israeli Defense Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nazzal, Rehab Artists from Toronto Canadian multimedia artists Canadian installation artists Canadian photographers Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Palestinian emigrants to Canada Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)