Anamorphosis

About this book

In June 2019, Praneet Soi travelled across the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. Beginning in Haifa, he drove up to the occupied Golan Heights and from there down to Bethlehem, Battir, Hebron, Jericho, Nablus, Jenin, Salfit, and Ramallah before driving back up to Haifa, Akka and Tel Aviv. Looking for alternative representations of a land under occupation, his aim was to experience the country through facets of its landscape and to visit, en-route, farms, workshops and factories, to engage with productivity, entrepreneurship, and minutia of everyday life for people in Palestine. 00At the beginning of August, whilst Soi was developing this work, the Indian state of Kashmir had its autonomous relationship with India revoked. It was split into two parts along religious lines (Muslim and Buddhist) and its state-hood was terminated. Kashmir has long identified itself with the Palestinian struggle. 1947 marked Indian independence from British rule, and the beginning of Kashmir's quest for autonomy. In that same year, the UN voted to end the British Mandate in Palestine, leading to an event called Nakba, or "The Catastrophe" by Palestinians, and the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. 00In this book, through film stills, collage, drawing, notes and sketches Soi draws on the work made in Palestine, and hints at this link to Kashmir, to explore the distortions that are caused by these disturbed political climates. Presenting film stills, collages, drawings, notes, and sketches, 'Anamorphosis' is informed by Indian artist Praneet Soi's travels in Israel and Palestine while searching for alternative representations of a territory under occupation. In his work, Soi is keen to explore the term "anamorphosis" as a metaphor for distorted representations arising from politicised subject matter. Palestine is experienced through facets of landscape, productivity, and enterprise, and placed in dialogue with Soi's ongoing engagement with craftsmen in Kashmir. His work surmises that any representation of such landscapes is a political gesture. The book is published with his first solo exhibition in London.