The exhibition also includes a painting-sculpture, which revisits the sixth century Byzantine Shellal Mosaic, originally located a few kilometers from Gaza. It was unearthed by Australian troops in 1917 and subsequently transported to Australia. The mosaic has been on display, embedded within a wall of Canberra’s Australian War Memorial since 1940 – far from its original archaeological and geographical context.
At once conceptual and materially grounded, Joreige’s work reflects on the mosaic’s displacement and the ethical complexities surrounding restitution. If returning the fragile object risks its destruction, how—and to whom—might it be returned when the land from which it was taken has itself been dispossessed? Departing from the mosaic’s original form and surviving fragments, the work operates through shifts in scale, material, representation, and display. The linen canvas alludes to the technique used to lift the mosaic off the ground in 1917, while its palette of colors is reconstructed from a historical photograph of the original.