<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The article explores how a number of artists have employed the counter/actual as a form of past-talk in a conscious intervention into socio-political and ethical issues arising from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. I argue that such uses of the counter/actual more effectively foreground the injustices arising from the occupation while not only problematising the process of representation but also deconstructing the ways in which histories are intimately intertwined with relations of power and practises of legitimisation; they do not simply reproduce “the (f)actual” but work to repossess the past from the dominance of hegemonic interests.</p></abstract>

The article explores how a number of artists have employed the counter/actual as a form of past-talk in a conscious intervention into socio-political and ethical issues arising from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. I argue that such uses of the counter/actual more effectively foreground the injustices arising from the occupation while not only problematising the process of representation but also deconstructing the ways in which histories are intimately intertwined with relations of power and practises of legitimisation; they do not simply reproduce “the (f)actual” but work to repossess the past from the dominance of hegemonic interests.

The Counter/Actual: Art and Strategies of Anti-Colonial Resistance

Art History & Criticism

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The Counter/Actual: Art and Strategies of Anti-Colonial Resistance"}

The article explores how a number of artists have employed the counter/actual as a form of past-talk in a conscious intervention into socio-political and...

The Counter/Actual: Art and Strategies of Anti-Colonial Resistance

Published Online: Dec 14, 2018

Page range: 28 - 39

Received: May 09, 2018

Accepted: Oct 30, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mik-2018-0003

Keywords
Palestine, counter/actual, spatialities, vertical power, the past, history, Larissa Sansour, Emily Jacir, China Miéville, Khalid Jarrar

© 2018 Claire Norton, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Counter/Actual: Art and Strategies of Anti-Colonial Resistance

Published Online: Dec 14, 2018

Page range: 28 - 39

Received: May 09, 2018

Accepted: Oct 30, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mik-2018-0003

KeywordsPalestine, counter/actual, spatialities, vertical power, the past, history, Larissa Sansour, Emily Jacir, China Miéville, Khalid Jarrar

© 2018 Claire Norton, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Palestine, counter/actual, spatialities, vertical power, the past, history, Larissa Sansour, Emily Jacir, China Miéville, Khalid Jarrar