Arafat

Stitched C-print 100 x 150cm

Arafat (2009) is part of Berend Strik's powerful Thixotropy series, created during his travels through East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The work depicts a political figure yet transforms him through Strik's signature stitching technique into something more intimate and ambiguous.

As Galerie Fons Welters describes: "Berend Strik appropriates images, ranging from photographs he has made himself or found in family albums to pages torn from magazines. He adds delicate pieces of material and embroidery to the existing image as part of his search for meaning. While the original images are characterised by a certain lack, an indefinite quality, the photographs that have been elaborated in this way are perfected. A context is created and the fruits of the imagination are made tangible."

Part of a quartet including Israel House, Palestinian House, and Ramallah, the work explores the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through intimate, domestic imagery rather than political spectacle. The direct title reference makes the political dimension explicit, yet Strik's textile interventions — adding fabric layers, creating tactile surfaces — transform the documentary image into something more layered and ambiguous.

Strik's approach creates room for associations and memories in the space between the photograph and his elaborations. The exhibition catalogue, published by Valiz with support from Fonds BKVB, remains a key document of this body of work.

Sources: Galerie Fons Welters · Valiz catalogue