Vivien Sansour

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Vivien Sansour
Born1978 (age 45–46)
Jerusalem
EducationEast Carolina University
Websiteviviensansour.com

Vivien Sansour (born 1978), is a Palestinian visual artist and founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library.[1] Her international work bridges between art, activism, botany, and conservation. Her work has been profiled by the BBC[2] and included at exhibitions and events at the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK),[3] the Chicago Architecture Biennale,[4] and the Venice Biennale.[5]

Early life and education[edit]

Sansour spent her childhood between the US and Beit Jala in the West Bank, where her interest in biological diversity was born.[6] In 2021–2022, Sansour was a Research Fellow in Conflict and Peace at Harvard University[7] and is a distinguished artistic fellow at Bard College's Experimental Humanities department.[8]

Key projects[edit]

The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library (2014–ongoing) preserves and promotes heritage and threatened seed varieties as well as traditional Palestinian farming practices. Through these methods cultural stories, and the identities associated with them are also preserved and shared.[9]

The Traveling Kitchen, (2018) is an extension of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, made in collaboration with Ayed Arafah. A mobile kitchen in the back of a car, the artwork opens conversations about agro-ecology, food heritage and the relationships between fields and kitchens.[10]

Zaree’a: On the work and legacy of Esiah Levy, London, 2019. Esiah Levy was a British seed saver and seed activist, founding a seed sharing project that distributed organic seeds around the world. Sansour worked with him during a residency at Delfina Foundation, London, in 2019, part of their Politics of Food season, creating a film about his work.[11]

Publications[edit]

  • Vivien Sansour and Alaa Tartir (2014) Palestinian Farmers: A Last Stronghold of Resistance, al-shabaka the Palestinian policy network.

Further reading[edit]

  • Noura Al Khasawneh (2021) Vivien Sansour: The Seeds of Change, Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, 2021, Issue 53
  • Osman Latiff (2021) Landscaping 'Otherness' and Challenging Frames of "Nothingness" in Contemporary Palestine, in Navigating War, Dissent and Empathy in Arab/U.S relations, Springer[12]
  • Anne Meneley (2020) Hope in the Ruins: Seeds, Plants and the Possibilities of Regeneration, Environment and Planning E: Vol.4:1
  • Anne Meneley (2021) Eating Wild: Hosting the Food Heritage of Palestine, PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review Vol. 44:2
  • Hubert Murray (2021) Landscape as resistance in the West Bank, Places Journal[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bauck, Whitney. "'They kept us alive for thousands of years': could saving Palestinian seeds also save the world?". the Guardian. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  2. ^ "The woman saving Palestinian heirloom seeds". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  3. ^ Higgie, Jennifer (2019-08-19). "Writer and Activist Vivien Sansour on Food, Farming, Heritage and Healing". Frieze. No. 205. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  4. ^ "Chicago Biennial: the undeniable power of architecture". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  5. ^ "Biennale Arte 2019 | Closing day of the Biennale Arte 2019". La Biennale di Venezia. 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  6. ^ Bierend, Doug (2024-01-08). "The Resilience of Rooted Beings". MOLD :: Designing the Future of Food. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  7. ^ "Vivien Sansour". rpl.hds.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  8. ^ "Vivien Sansour". Experimental Humanities. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  9. ^ Bauck, Whitney. "'They kept us alive for thousands of years': could saving Palestinian seeds also save the world?". the Guardian. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  10. ^ Higgie, Jennifer (2019-08-19). "Writer and Activist Vivien Sansour on Food, Farming, Heritage and Healing". Frieze. No. 205. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  11. ^ "Vivien Sansour: Zaree'a". Delfina Foundation. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  12. ^ Latiff, Osman (2021), Latiff, Osman (ed.), "Landscaping 'Otherness and Challenging Frames of "Nothingness" in Contemporary Palestine'", Navigating War, Dissent and Empathy in Arab/U.S Relations: Seeing Our Others in Darkened Spaces, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 25–44, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-76747-1_2, ISBN 978-3-030-76747-1, retrieved 2024-04-30
  13. ^ Murray, Hubert (June 2021). "Landscape as Resistance in the West Bank". Places Journal. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
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