ON MY WAY HOME/
THE HOUSE I ENCOUNTER

15.08.2019
Birzeit, Palestine

I feel I am in the right place. I needed to be here, not because of me, but because of them: Labibe, Marta, Bishara, Angélica, Abraham. I’m not just visiting Palestine, I am returning. Two days ago, in the market in Ramallah, a man asked me where I was from. I explained I was from Chile, and he didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. So I added, “I was born in Chile, but I’m originally Palestinian”. To which the man replied: “Welcome back.”

Last summer I went for 3 months to Birzeit, Palestine. There, in the context of a residency in Disarming Design from Palestine, I made a workshop with people from the community. During one month, we overviewed methods and exercises on oral tradition, including collective readings and screenings on the topic, and different exercises to explore the notion of memory and collective memory.

I have a strange feeling of nostalgia and am unsure where it comes from. I wonder about the meaning of being home. Is it the place where we find ourselves right now or is it the place where we are most of the time? A place you have been sleeping in, eating at and returning to. But then, what is Palestine for me? It is definitely not my home. I have never been here before, but I have a strange feeling of longing.

THE REAL AND THE ABSENT
workshop
2019

V.R.B.N
Santiago, Chile
2012

G
Ramallah, Palestine
2019

In 2012 I made a video where I filmed places in Santiago where I could see the 4 colors of the Palestinian flag: green, red, black, and white. When I made this video, I had never been to Palestine.

6 years later, from Palestine, I made a new video, where I filmed all the shadows of the Palestinian flag in Ramallah, West Bank.