Israel Studies Seminar Series
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge
Palestinian Israeli Art Narratives: Public Art in Acre (Akko, Akka)
Rasha Assaf, PhD candidate, UCL
Wednesday, February 28 at 17:30, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Room 9
Abstract
Historic Acre is a world heritage city located in the Galilee northern Israel-Palestine. Emerging
from the smoke of the burning, which consumed many of the preserved stones during the late
violent events in the city in 2018 and motivated by the rich history and diverse heritages of the
city, various local "A`ki" ( عك ي ) Palestinian artists and newly arrived Jewish Israeli artists have
been drawn to utilize the city space to depict and portray their works.
This lecture aims to delve into the nuanced discourses, examining how local Palestinian artists and
newly arrived Israeli-Jewish artists utilize the historic backdrop of the tangible conserved stones
for creative expressions — as a canvas and as an open gallery of their artworks and interventions.
It explores how they perceive the space for artistic expression as well as for political claim, posing
the question to whom the city belongs and answering it uniquely. In doing so, the lecture asks to
critically evaluate the ways in which art and heritage symbols are employed in the urban space by
different artists, shedding light on the intricate interplay between art, politics, and place identity.
Rasha Assaf is a PhD candidate at the Bartlett, University College London, and a member of
Israel urban research community. A tutor at UCL, where she teaches Spatial Cultures in the Arts
and Sciences Department, and Global Futures at the Institute of Global Prosperity. She began her
academic journey with law studies at the Hebrew University. Later, she specialized in human
rights law, political theory and government at Haifa University.