Late Monuments 6 by Dima Srouji 2024
Stone and colored glass
In the “Late Monuments” series, Dima Srouji carves evocative stone windows inlaid with colored glass to imagine future archaeological monuments in the Palestinian landscape. The aesthetic of her work echoes the traditional production techniques of qamariyyat (stucco windows) found in Palestine, Yemen, and Egypt. The form of each “monument” draws upon archeological structures housed in the Rockefeller Archeological Museum-more specifically those from Hisham’s Palace, an early Islamic archeological site dating to the eighth century in Jericho, the West Bank. The sculpture also invokes the stained-glass windows that line the top of the Qibli Mosque, one of two main structures inside the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, along with the Dome of the Rock. Many of these windows remain shattered as a result of clashes within the compound and will take many months to repair.
Aga Khan Documentation Center, Department of Distinctive Collections, MIT Libraries: 1500708210