Jackie Salloum
Online Art Portfolio
When living in the United States, it's sometimes hard to remember that we citizens are often given only one side of the story. For example, if you're a young, suburban, white Michigander, you've probably heard that Detroit is overrun by thieving African Americans who will do anything to get your car stereo. Or, for a more general example, our nation's media seems for the most part to be slanted towards the idea that every Middle Eastern nation (with the exception of Israel) is filled with the craziest people on the planet. Footage that comes from the Middle East is often that of bombings and people yelling in Arabic. Americans rarely get to see the entire essence of the Middle Eastern experience; but with her short films and politically active website, Dearborn-based conceptual artist Jackie Salloum seeks to give a full perspective to those who normally would not get one.
The most striking parts of Salloum's site are her short films, especially Planet of the Arabs: a collage of scenes featuring heinous depictions of Arabs from readily-available Hollywood films, arranged in the style of a Michael Bay-style blockbuster movie trailer. Planet of the Arabs was featured at Sundance Film Festival in 2005, and it demonstrates clearly how villainized people of Arab descent have been in the American media, even before the events of September 11th. It left this viewer horrified at our tolerance for racism; if one film in the last thirty years had demonized African Americans or Caucasians on such a scale as Salloum depicts, there would have been a large-scale outcry and controversy against that film. Today people are protesting against the use of Chinese women in Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha, yet not once (until I viewed Salloum's website) have I heard someone complain about the distastefulness of Chuck Norris' character in The Delta Force. Perhaps this is just because nothing Norris has touched is really all that culturally important outside the realm of ironic kitsch. But at the same time, never in Memoirs of a Geisha is a culture brutally assaulted like Arab culture is within Delta Force and the other film and TV segments excerpted in Planet of the Arabs.
Meanwhile, Salloum's short film Meen Erhabe (Who's the Terrorist), set to the music of Palestinian rap group DAM, features a fully Palestinian view of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. It will most likely offend those who believe that Israel is all that is pure and good, but for those who are willing to acknowledge the fact that there is simply no way that Israel is just a hopeless victim in this dispute, then it will give some general insight into the mind and life of a Palestinian person. Next to all of the heavy issues of Meen Erhabe and Planet of the Arabs lies the cute and playful Arabs A-Go-Go, which light-heartedly gives another perspective of Middle Eastern people without leaving the bitter taste of culturally insensitive depression upon a viewer's lips.
Other points of interest around the site are Salloum's politically pointed flashcards, toys, and gumball machine. For anyone who likes to see Colin Powell, Ronald Reagan, and Madeline Albright get ripped a new one with their own words, the flashcard section is especially for you. Also appealing is the gumball section, which features the concepts of magnets, stickers, or rings of some of Salloum's favorite revolutionaries. What is refreshing about Salloum's approach is she doesn't just choose revolutionaries famous for being involved in the politics of the Palestinian/Israeli states, but political figures who matter in the United States as well. Her choices of Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, and Black Panther founder Huey Newton highlight the similarities which can be found among all peoples who have been oppressed. It is necessary to be reminded what effect racism has had on the construction of nations and cultural identity throughout the planet, and Salloum makes her point with these gumball machines without any of the heavy-handedness which often can be found on college campuses throughout the United States.
No one can single-handedly save the reputation of an entire culture - not even such an earnest and engaging website as Jackie Salloum's can achieve such a feat. But at the very least, media like this can begin the process.
Picture: detail of "Ya Falasteen" by Jackie Salloum, 2003
Jackie Salloum's Website
See Also: definitions of Palestine
See Also Also: Someone Who Should Be Ashamed of Himself
When living in the United States, it's sometimes hard to remember that we citizens are often given only one side of the story. For example, if you're a young, suburban, white Michigander, you've probably heard that Detroit is overrun by thieving African Americans who will do anything to get your car stereo. Or, for a more general example, our nation's media seems for the most part to be slanted towards the idea that every Middle Eastern nation (with the exception of Israel) is filled with the craziest people on the planet. Footage that comes from the Middle East is often that of bombings and people yelling in Arabic. Americans rarely get to see the entire essence of the Middle Eastern experience; but with her short films and politically active website, Dearborn-based conceptual artist Jackie Salloum seeks to give a full perspective to those who normally would not get one.The most striking parts of Salloum's site are her short films, especially Planet of the Arabs: a collage of scenes featuring heinous depictions of Arabs from readily-available Hollywood films, arranged in the style of a Michael Bay-style blockbuster movie trailer. Planet of the Arabs was featured at Sundance Film Festival in 2005, and it demonstrates clearly how villainized people of Arab descent have been in the American media, even before the events of September 11th. It left this viewer horrified at our tolerance for racism; if one film in the last thirty years had demonized African Americans or Caucasians on such a scale as Salloum depicts, there would have been a large-scale outcry and controversy against that film. Today people are protesting against the use of Chinese women in Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha, yet not once (until I viewed Salloum's website) have I heard someone complain about the distastefulness of Chuck Norris' character in The Delta Force. Perhaps this is just because nothing Norris has touched is really all that culturally important outside the realm of ironic kitsch. But at the same time, never in Memoirs of a Geisha is a culture brutally assaulted like Arab culture is within Delta Force and the other film and TV segments excerpted in Planet of the Arabs.
Meanwhile, Salloum's short film Meen Erhabe (Who's the Terrorist), set to the music of Palestinian rap group DAM, features a fully Palestinian view of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. It will most likely offend those who believe that Israel is all that is pure and good, but for those who are willing to acknowledge the fact that there is simply no way that Israel is just a hopeless victim in this dispute, then it will give some general insight into the mind and life of a Palestinian person. Next to all of the heavy issues of Meen Erhabe and Planet of the Arabs lies the cute and playful Arabs A-Go-Go, which light-heartedly gives another perspective of Middle Eastern people without leaving the bitter taste of culturally insensitive depression upon a viewer's lips.
Other points of interest around the site are Salloum's politically pointed flashcards, toys, and gumball machine. For anyone who likes to see Colin Powell, Ronald Reagan, and Madeline Albright get ripped a new one with their own words, the flashcard section is especially for you. Also appealing is the gumball section, which features the concepts of magnets, stickers, or rings of some of Salloum's favorite revolutionaries. What is refreshing about Salloum's approach is she doesn't just choose revolutionaries famous for being involved in the politics of the Palestinian/Israeli states, but political figures who matter in the United States as well. Her choices of Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, and Black Panther founder Huey Newton highlight the similarities which can be found among all peoples who have been oppressed. It is necessary to be reminded what effect racism has had on the construction of nations and cultural identity throughout the planet, and Salloum makes her point with these gumball machines without any of the heavy-handedness which often can be found on college campuses throughout the United States.
No one can single-handedly save the reputation of an entire culture - not even such an earnest and engaging website as Jackie Salloum's can achieve such a feat. But at the very least, media like this can begin the process.
Picture: detail of "Ya Falasteen" by Jackie Salloum, 2003
Jackie Salloum's Website
See Also: definitions of Palestine
See Also Also: Someone Who Should Be Ashamed of Himself
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