JAMELIE HASSAN

Quote J.Hassan in Jamelie/Jamila: REMEMBER             Jamelie Hassan recalls memories of her early years and builds her artwork on basis of them. M.Halbwachs:”the greatest number of memories come back to us, when our parents, our friends or other persons recall them to us.” Jamelie’s memories are strongly connected to the family memories. They revolve around times in the fifties when people were coming to Canada from Middle East. Her father helped them move to the new territory and made their transition more comfortable when they did not have any experience in the new environment. There was a constant flow of people in and out of their house, which left a lasting impact on Jamelie. The ever changing environment, which is the central point of happening is present in her works as well in her life. Memory turns the nameless places in the places of encounter and development of diaspora culture as well as it created a fertile ground for Jamelie’s creations to start taking place. There is a duality present in her life and works. Duality of constant connection with the Arabic culture in an Anglo-Saxon environment. Jamelie is remembering the difference and gains new ways of approach out of them, when she combines traditional Lebanese (Mid Eastern) elements with pure Anglo-Saxon (English Canadian) ones.   MEMORY Jamelie connects her works to her own memories and develops the work from there. In the project Jamelie/Jamila the whole work is based on memories from their lives The project “unfolds” their “paper histories” and presents them as part of a personal life and experience. Smaller things, such as the Tea Bag just reinforce the personal memory feel, which brings back memories of a conversation at the international feminist book-fair in Montreal, when a woman from India was asking what word ‘lesbian’ actually means. She talks how she was called different names while growing up, which gave her a prosthetic identity, transforming her “self” from an Arabic to more Anglo-Saxon. There was an ongoing process of Anglo-Saxonization performed by the workers in the state apparatus – teachers, nuns and other people from public life she had to deal with. The process had a lasting impact on the development of one’s culture and the self-identification. Many times the memory and identity clash, when a person is memorizing one identity and the surroundings build another one for the same person. Memory has been used in her works from a very personal perspective. The spectator almost feels what she felt in the moment when the memory was created. Close, personal and honest, with a strong connection to own identity and values. PROSTHETIC MEMORY Jamelie did not have the real memories of the Middle East, except the ones brought to her through her parents in the early years. Although there was a strong connection to Lebanon and its landscapes, it was mostly metaphysical and symbolic. When she grew older she re-created these memories herself by traveling in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria… Although she never witnessed it herself, the beginning of the World War 1 had a great impact on the way how her life was developing. Her father left Lebanon when it was under Turkish rule at the beginning of World War 1. Jamelie is looking for what remember being strongly attached to with a desire to research and investigate own past.   MEMORY THROUGH CONNECTING: As her home used to connect different people and one culture and environment with another, so does her artwork. Music and dancing is connected to the landscapes of Lebanon. The images connect to artifacts she encountered through her life and travels. For old memories she uses the black and white videotape, which recalls the old “black and white” memories of youth. Memory of a Chinese couple in Toronto whose restaurant was destroyed by racist burglars (Jamelie/Jamila) connects the spectator to events of experience of hurt when being exposed to hate and misunderstanding due to difference. When her name was changed by authorities in Jean and Janey, she encountered another girl, whose name was changed to Jane in a similar way – being Native American and being undergoing the process of Anglo-Saxonization by the authorities. There was a strong connection between two of them arising from this fact. The girl (Jane) helped Jamelie’s mother ironing and since then the ironing is always connected to images of Jane helping her mother in Jamelie’s memory as well as in everyday life. Jane brought with her a connection to the Native American art to Jamelie. Jane was an artist and brought her works to Hassans’ house. Jamelie’s mother was helping Jane selling her artworks. Jamelie’s work is connected to memories (both actual and prosthetic), places, events and emotions. It doesn’t matter if a trauma, a disaster of a crisis has happened yesterday or fifty years ago, the memory is true and live, brought back through her artwork.