Farihah Aliyah Shah

In the 2016 article About Land published in Canadian Art, Anishinaabe-kwe curator Wanda Nanibush wrote, “colonization, whether in Canada or Palestine, marks a before and an after where identity is radically altered by loss.” When land is deemed valuable and desirable, violent removal and displacement of people on said land becomes justified by colonizers and imperialists alike. Researching colonial harm and trauma while watching it unfold in real time in Gaza was a challenging aspect of  creating this piece. I have been filled with grief by the loss of people, communities, families (entire lineages), my ummah, targeted attacks on those I consider my colleagues (photojournalists, artists, and writers), and brutalization of the land. I reflect on scenes of destroyed historical architecture, government archival spaces, and homes with photographs of their inhabitants scattered amongst the rubble - unsure of their safety and survival. With limited access to information about my own lineage beyond three generations, I recognize my personal archive, culinary traditions, and oral histories are the only heirlooms I’ve inherited. As I engage in the work of rebuilding and recontextualizing my archive, I chose to speak against the active erasure of Palestinians. Our existence is resistance. It is not lost on me of the many other spaces that are experiencing genocide in this current moment, therefore I use this time to hold space for and denounce imperialists movements around the world.

Always About Land is an extension of Nanibush’s 2016 article. It is a contemplation of the similarities between Victoria Village and Miami - connected culturally, historically, and physically by the North Atlantic. The narration by Victoria native (my father), O’Keefe Shah, speaks about his experiences near the Demerara River and the colonists’ interests and intentions on both waterways and the control of land.