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It Will Live | Leena Nammari | Refuge | Edinburgh International Festival | The Studio | Jassy Earl
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It Will Live | Leena Nammari | Refuge | Edinburgh International Festival | The Studio | Andrew Perry
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It Will Live | Leena Nammari | Refuge | Edinburgh International Festival | The Studio | Jassy Earl
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It Will Live | Leena Nammari | Refuge | Edinburgh International Festival | The Studio | Andrew Perry
Leena Nammari posing outside of a modern building with glass walls. She is wearing glasses, a collared shirt and a beaded necklace. She has one hand on her hip and is leaning against a pole with the other hand.
A close up of a modern building in Edinburgh. The facade is made from glass and iron. There is a large photograph of an older, Brick house in Ramallah placed against the glass and facing outwards onto the street.
A close up of Leena Nammari standing on a city street. She has short curly hair and is wearing glasses and a collared shirt. She is facing the camera and smiling with her eyes closed.
A modern building in Edinburgh at dusk. The facade is made of glass and iron. On the left of the building there is a poster advertising Edinburgh International Festival.

It Will Live

Leena Nammari

image: It Will Live | Leena Nammari | Refuge | Edinburgh International Festival | The Studio | Andrew Perry

An impactful floating installation of a house in Ramallah, known, loved and photographed for 35 years.

This art installation by Leena Nammari hung on the facade of The Studio at the Festival Theatre throughout August 2022, as part of the Refuge series in collaboration with Edinburgh International Festival.

“The floating images are of a house I have loved and known for 35 years.

I have been photographing it for 20.

I have been hoping it will survive the ravages of time, and not be demolished for a new, better functioning glass and steel and concrete structure.

I have been hoping it would live.

I remember I have loved it.

I remember I am anxious about it.

I think I remember what it looks like, but really, I don’t.

I do not want to know who owns it.

I do not want to know.

I just want it to live.

And it will live.’

LEENA NAMMARI

Leena Nammari is a Palestinian artist printmaker based in Scotland. Her work has been part of group and solo exhibitions within Scotland and in Europe more widely. Alongside her exhibitions, she works with marginalised groups across Edinburgh to encourage social engagement, always remaining focused on maintaining a politically engaged practice.

Her Palestinian heritage and background forms the basis of all her work; her art is subtly loaded with the politics of the many but always reflecting the personal. Her images have something amiss in them – a sadness, an abandonment, a loss – allowing a little pause in the viewer which encourages them to question what they have seen.

Listen to Leena on the Ice and Fire I am an Immigrant podcast: Unapologetically Palestinian. She talks about her favourite Scottish words, and the feeling that, despite living here for decades, being here still feels temporary.

2.5 Leena Nammari: Unapologetically Palestinian – I Am An Immigrant | Podcast on Spotify

REFUGE

Refuge was a season of contemporary theatre, dance, visual art, film and conversation created in collaboration with Edinburgh International Festival to explore themes of refugeehood, migration, identity and inclusion. Presented seventy-five years after Rudolf Bing, himself a refugee, co-founded the Edinburgh International Festival, this season invited 85 artists from over 15 countries to reflect upon the profound impact that migration has had on arts and culture in Scotland and around the world.

The Refuge series was held at The Studio, supported by British Council, Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh and Claire and Mark Urquhart. Made possible through the PLACE Programme. In collaboration with Scottish Refugee Council.