Diwan Voyage had the pleasure to accompany for a little while the plastic artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest in the creation of his artwork on the poet and symbol of Palestine, Mahmoud Darwish. You can find more details on the work of Ernest Pignon-Ernest by following the links below.

Ernest Pignon-Ernest knew Mahmoud Darwish and had friendship ties with him. He had already portrayed him before welcoming him in his workshop in Ivry, in October 2007.

The next meeting had been settled in Ramallah a few months later for a reunion. The death of the poet in August 2008 brutally changed the course of the visit, but Ernest Pignon-Ernest did not cancel his trip to Palestine. He quickly took the decision to defy the absence by using as always the only weapon in his hand: drawing.

To impose the presence of Darwish in symbolic places was a way not only to relay his struggles and his message, but also to exorcise the exile that took over his life for such a long time. This man, standing, calm, determined, arising on the other side of destiny, simply claimed his right to be there. In the garden of Sakakini, close to his office; at Qalandya checkpoint; at the corner of a street in Bethlehem; at the heart of a destroyed house in Jerusalem; against the concrete wall isolating the West Bank; or also on a stone of his native village in Galilee.

“As if I was joyful, I came back”, says a poem of Mahmoud Darwish. Without presuming joy, as it is over there long overdue, Ernest Pignon-Ernest gave body and a face to this return. (André Velter)

http://ccframallah.blogspot.com/2009/06/le-portrait- de-mahmoud- darwish-par.html
http://www.pignon-ernest.com/

Date of publication: February 12, 2016