Dima Srouji, Encases in Remnants, 2024.
93 Fragments is organized by DC-based artist Mojdeh Rezaeipour and hosted by GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Gallery 1 at the Flagg Building from November 14, 2024–February 15, 2025. The project includes a group exhibition and a series of programs that bring together the creative practices and methodologies of sixteen artists, writers, and thinkers from all over the world who are in direct conversation with materials of cultural heritage. Engaging themes of restitution, reclamation, transmutation, and talismanic connection, 93 Fragments proposes a radical reimagining of stewardship that aims to transform a museum-like showcase of preserved objects and artworks into a space of revolutionary and liberatory potential. Read More.
For this exhibition Dima Srouji debuts Encases in Remnants. Gauze, originally invented in Gaza using local rabbit silk, carries profound significance as both a healing fabric and a material rooted in the city’s heritage and land. Printed with archival images of Gaza, along with architectural remains and indigenous flora and fauna embedded within outlines of ancient artifacts, the work transforms gauze from a tool of medical aid into a canvas of remembrance. This evokes Gaza’s enduring resilience and the scars inflicted upon it, suggesting a form of remembering for the dismembered bodies buried beneath the rubble. Visitors are invited to move beyond passive observation by engaging with the tactile layers of gauze and taking a strip from the shelf below, allowing them to carry a piece of “rememberment” with them.