"Edge of Town" is a fascinating ongoing series of oil paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Daliah Ammar which are inspired by her summers spent in Palestine growing up. The works represent Ammar's slow sense of displacement from Palestinian culture as she grows older.
Ammar says of the series: "The summer I was 18, my family visited Palestine. As we drove down the highway one evening, we saw cars pulling over ahead; turning off the radio we heard sirens screaming. People left their cars, looked up, and watched a missile’s trail cut the sky in half above us. I had lived in Palestine as a teenager and visited every summer as a child. Air raid drills were common in schools and cities but I had never seen a real rocket before."
Ammar continues, "One of my earliest memories of Palestine is the smell of burning. Trash and crop burning is very common over there, especially among the smaller villages and along the highways of farm fields at night. I have never experienced anything like it growing up in the states. I have always lived in the space between two lands. I am half Palestinian and half American and I speak very few words of Arabic. My entire life I have relied on my father to communicate with my family and make me comfortable in this culture that is supposed to be my own. This series of Burn paintings explores my sense of displacement. They are not only a literal representation of my memories of Palestine, but also this widening distance I have carved between myself and my culture as I have grown older."
