Samah Hijawi Chasing Za’atar: From Jordan, to Palestine and back!

Following a research trip in Palestine where the herb Oregano/Za’ater is foraged from the wild in springtime, Samah Hijawi brings her chapter on Za’atar full circle. Taking a deep political turn on the foods we have grown to love, in this last performance on Za’atar Samah explores what it means to eat from the earth of another place, a herb that is picked by someone’s dark soil-dried hands, and prepared by another person… people who you will never meet. Transported all the way to Belgium (via Jordan), again, the simple herb tells so many stories. 3 hours in English The piece includes food and wine with veggie, vegan and meat options. Come with friends and an empty belly! Samah Hijawi is a multi-media artist (a painter, a performer, an astrologer, a story teller, a researcher and an academic, a cook — it’s up to you to decide). Regardless of the form through which she materialises her work, her projects are always deeply rooted in historical narratives which are used to re-imagine our contemporary life. The spectacular outcomes of the trails of migration of the different species in our worlds is a topic she comes back to often in her work. In 2020 she started a long-term project called Kitchen. Table. where she researches the movement of food practices over time and across geographies, and the body as a site of food memory.  Her works have been shown in The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Brussels, Museum M, The Hayward Gallery in London, BOZAR and Beursschouwburg in Brussels, MoMa and Apex Art - New York; Darat al Funun - Amman, among others. samahhijawi.com instagram.com/hijawisamah   — produced by Kunstenwerkplaats, co-produced and supported by Beursschouwburg, Viernulvier, Kaaitheater, A.M. Qattan Foundation, WPZimmer and funded by the Vlaamse Gemeenschap and the Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie photo credit: Catarina Santos