What Became of Him I do not Know (detail)

(coffee, coloured pencil, oil pastel, photographs, 18" x 24", Nadia Awad, 2009)

We were created to live in Paradise, and Paradise was designed to serve us. Our designation has been changed; we are not told whether this happened to Paradise as well. (84)

* This piece contains two words “batal” which means ‘to sever/cut off’ and “baTal” which means hero. The roots are not related, though to someone whose understanding of Semitic roots is kind of marginal a misreading of this sort can occur, which happens all the time to Jews from Arab countries in Israel whose parents decided not to pass down the language. So, this piece is a commentary on that sort of transformation.