SELF PORTRAIT (2003)
Palestine is the Sisyphus of our time. As his punishment from the gods, this mythological figure had to spend eternity rolling a stone up a hill, only to always have it roll back down. In the opinion of Tarek Al-Ghoussein, the Western media’s presentation of the Palestinians is similar. They likewise seem to be engaged in a meaningless and endless struggle, in which a stone is also central. In a series of self-portraits Al-Ghoussein critiques the cliché of the Palestinians that – particularly after September 11 – seems to be ineradicable in the Western media. In the style of Levis and Marlboro he creates an imaginary advertising campaign in which the image of the terrorist with a stone and headscarf functions as a logo for the Intifada.
