Orientalism Repeated

Abstract

In her video A Sketch of Manners (Alfred Roch's Last Masquerade) (2013), artist Jumana Manna reanimated a striking group portrait from 1924 as tableau vivant, bringing the original photograph of wealthy Palestinians dressed in Pierrot clown costumes to life as a theatrical narrative. In this article, the author explores how Manna's work repeats and augments particular Orientalist uses of time, inspired by the Orientalist practice of cultural cross-dressing apparent in the photograph. She use Manna's artistic intervention as an occasion to explore the history of the Christian Palestinian community under the British Mandate in more depth. Echoing theorist Ariella Azoulay’s call to stop ‘looking’ at photographs and start ‘watching’ them instead, Manna's video reveals the archival photograph as more than just proof of flourishing Palestinian urban life before the formation of Israel. As the author argues, it exposes the image as a potent sign of the continuing consequences of Palestine's colonial experience.