STONE / rubber5

rubber5

Nida Sinnokrot is a Palestinian artist whose installation consists of a series of stones half-covered with rubber lined up against the wall as if they were ready to be picked up and thrown. The stones are egg-shaped and sized to fit in the palm of a hand. In this exhibit one of these stones is displayed. Sinnokrot's work speaks about the inequality of means between the Israeli army and the Palestinian civilian population. In the-best-of-cases, the Israeli army shoots rubber-bullets at the Palestinian civilian population; in the worst-of-cases, Palestinian civilians are confronted with army tanks against which their only defense is often just stones. The irony of the work &endash;if it requires any explanation at all&emdash;is to make stones even more futile by rubber-coating them. Would somebody throw a rubber-coated stone at a tank so as not to dent it? The absurdity of it makes us reflect about the absurdity of a situation that seems to have no solution. Sinnokrot's work also alludes to the Biblical story of David and Goliath and keeps it alive in the popular imagination. Like the small David facing a giant enemy, many children in the Palestinian resistance hurl rocks at a colossal armored enemy.