Architect, designer, artist, and educator working in the expanded context of interdisciplinary research-based projects using multiple mediums, Dima Srouji with experience of working in Palestine and abroad, brings her interdisciplinary approach to design and curatorial commentary to the presentation of the design scene in the region and beyond.
As a Palestinian designer Dima Srouji’s work explores the power of the ground, its strata, and its artefacts in revealing forgotten, silenced, or hidden narratives, specifically concerning her home country researching on issues of identity, globalisation, and tradition amidst the country’s long and ongoing political uncertainty. She works closely with glass, archives, maps, and plaster casts and exhibits her work in multiple global platforms. She also works closely with archaeologists, geographers, and anthropologists to develop projects through interdisciplinary methodologies. The research projects are focused on critical cartography and deep mapping to construct alternative spatial narratives of the global south.
Earlier this year Srouji curated “Here and There: A Palestinian Collection” by Adorno International Design Collaboration as an introduction of the Palestinian design scene on their platform giving audiences a view into the collaborative and diverse world of the contemporary Palestinian design scene. From a curatorial perspective, Srouji described that “this collaborative and diverse creative energy allows for intersections between local knowledge and global know-how and has placed Palestinian design alongside global productions. Design is a collective denominator where each designer is revisiting a local industry with a new perspective whether in Palestine or abroad”.
From maintaining the use of traditional, local knowledge to incorporating contemporary techniques and materials in the diaspora abroad, the designers presented in “Here and There” contributed to the continuity and development of contemporary Palestinian design, sharing their collective and individual artistic viewpoints with the larger world. This collection spanned a variety of media, techniques, and forms and includes work from Hollow Forms, Local Industries, Moio Studios, Faissal El Malak, and Turabi Ceramics.