Utstilling

Avgang 2025: Carmel Alabassi / From Suspended Mourning to Spectral Grief

“The dead. They have a plan. And their plan is simple. It is called Sumoud صمود.
To stand fast and start all over again. The dead. They direct us to the open graves, desecrated by bulldozers. A severed hand. A mutilated tongue. A stained truth beside a suitcase of books. The dead. They are hungry, and they have a plan. They plan to summon us to the soil. Where they are not buried anymore, and insist that we stand fast and start from there, all over again”.
Haytham Al-Wardany - Labour of listening.

In Palestine, the martyrs do not depart; they persist as spectral presences—haunting reminders of grief that cannot be fully processed. Their absence becomes an interruption, a testament to the impossible reconciliation between loss and presence. I am aware that neither words nor art can encapsulate the totality of suspended mourning, which has turned into spectral grief, without risking simplification or the erasure of its complexity.

From Suspended Mourning to Spectral Grief is part of an ongoing research on the mourning and grief, in the context of Palestine, where it is not merely a recognition of death but an ongoing engagement with “the trace” of those lost—an indelible mark that cannot be fully addressed or reconciled. The absence of proper mourning rituals—due to the omnipresent threat of annihilation and the physical dislocation of bodies—renders mourning a suspended act. This creates an existential landscape wherein the act of grief is deferred, endlessly postponed by the colonial machinery of violence that perpetuates loss and prevents closure. The mourning process in Palestine becomes distorted, transformed into an impossible task where each death contributes to an accumulation that overwhelms the individual and communal capacity to mourn.

In this exhibition, I attempt to process some temporal and spatial aspects of Gaza amid an imperialist genocidal war that has persisted for the past 15 months. The sheer magnitude of daily death erases individual identities, turning unique lives into anonymous figures within a collective tragedy, resulting in the loss of recognition of the singularity of each loss.

Experimenting with contrasting materials: Ice—a fragile yet sharp material—slowly yielding to fluidity. The numbing sensation it leaves on the skin speaks to the mental numbness caused by prolonged loss. When combined with cement, it introduces a contrasting temporality—one defined by weight, endurance, and preservation—resisting dissolution unless shattered by force. As the ice melts, subtle changes occur in the cement, leaving behind traces that embed themselves into the material, much like unprocessed grief etches itself into one’s existence—not as a fleeting state, but as an indelible imprint. In addition to these sculptural works, the exhibition includes soundscapes that carefully layer sonic elements and field recordings that friends and family have sent from Gaza, while enduring every minute of israel's necroviolence.

From Suspended Mourning to Spectral Grief invites audiences to confront the haunting reality of Gaza and every meter of historical Palestine, where the boundaries between life and death dissolve, and mourning becomes an act of a collective resistance against the erasure of Palestinians. It bears witness to the suspended lives of the living and the spectral presence of the martyrs, illuminating a landscape where grief, survival, and the fight for justice are inextricably intertwined.

In this unresolved state, the martyrs and the living coexist, defying closure by the interminable remindings of the enduring struggle for liberation.

Opening: Feb 21, 18:00

Friday 21 February, until 21.00
Saturday 22 February, 11.00-19.00
Sunday 23 February: Closed
Monday 24: 11:00-16:30
Tuesday 25: 11:00-16:30
Wednesday 26: 11:00-21.00
Thursday 27: 11:00-16:30
Friday 28: 11:00-16:30
Saturday 1 March, 11.00-19.00

The exhibition can also be visited by appointment through emailing Carmel.Hafiz.Alabbasi@khio.no

Carmel Alabbasi calls on you to never lose the ability to feel with and recognise any injustice inflicted upon anyone, anywhere in the world. Power to those who, filled with love, join the struggle of all oppressed people, resisting imperialism, settler colonialism and neoliberalism. Our fates are intertwined—across borders and battlefields, from streets to studios, from grief to resistance.

MFA graduation projects

The final year Master students will present individual graduation projects in different spaces at KHiO and around Oslo. These projects will be diverse in form and will take place at different times during the spring semester. Some of the projects will open simultaneously. The graduating students will also collectively explore the group format in a curated group exhibition.