STEVE SABELLA
The nine squares of Everland is a photo collage of Palestinian embroidery decorations sewn and woven on a wide variety of traditional costumes. This disappearing tradition is passed from generation to generation by women who sew patterns and motifs to reveal their heritage, ancestry, and place of origin. The embroidery is derived from geometric forms.
Everland celebrates all the charm that comes out of Palestine, a place where everything gets disrupted. Yet, the collage-style enables the different cross stitches, among other techniques, to penetrate deep into new borders, creating unique designs that look as if they represent every other culture.
Every time everland will be on display, the squares will be put in a different constellation, including their orientation to any side. This way, everland will always have endless possibilities, creating a new visual, forever changing.
Steve Sabella (*1975 in Jerusalem, Palestine) is a Berlin-based artist and author of The Parachute Paradox, published by Kerber Verlag (September 2016). His first monograph Steve Sabella – Photography 1997–2014 was published by Hatje Cantz in collaboration with the Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2014), with texts by Hubertus von Amelunxen and a foreword by Kamal Boullata.