PROFILE

taysir batniji
challenging familiarity

In one fixed shot for his 2007 video, Background Noise, Taysir Batniji strives not to blink as bombs and gunshots burst around him. The shot is tight - it frames the artist's face, waiting for the next 'boom'. As the artwork's name suggests, the viewer suddenly realises that this 'noise' is an everyday occurrence, a habitual sound in some areas of the world - in this case, Gaza. The sound of blasts occurs continuously, yet however frequent and repetitive they might be, one never gets accustomed to them and is startled at each blow. "The original project of this video was to remain stone-faced when the bombs burst. Unblinking, indifferent, to show that life actually keeps going on in Gaza," explains Batniji. "But I failed; it was impossible. The explosions are both permanent and totally unpredictable. And so this work finally became the film of a failure." Background Noise undoubtedly speaks of defiance, but also of resistance on an intimate and personal level. It addresses the everyday effort of resistance each person will have to carry, one day or another; here it's war, but it could equally be illness or grief. The piece works as a metaphor for our most intimate struggles. Batniji's works do not shout, nor do they protest. Rather, they smack, like a slap in the face.

Born in Gaza in 1966, Batniji studied fine art at the An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Bourges from 1995-97 and Marseille 2002-03,in France. During 2000-06 he travelled constantly in and out of Gaza and then one day, found it impossible to return home. "The day my exhibition at the French Institute in Amman opened [25 June 2006] was the day [Israeli Defence Forces soldier] Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas. Gaza's borders were immediately closed. I was abroad with an eight-day visa and understood that it would not be a question of days or weeks, but years [to return]," says Batniji...