Ensemble

Khalil Rabah is a conceptual artist whose work critically examines the politics of representation, heritage, and displacement. Drawing on the tools and aesthetics of museology, archival systems, and institutional display, Rabah constructs speculative frameworks that question how histories are written and how knowledge is shaped by power.
A central component of his practice is the ongoing project The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind—a fictional institution that operates as both artwork and critique. Through this and related works, Rabah explores the erasure and fabrication of narratives within colonial and postcolonial contexts, particularly in relation to Palestine.
The notion of displacement, both political and philosophical, is central to his work. By incorporating materials such as olive trees, soil, and stone, Rabah situates these symbols of resilience and rootedness within globalized art institutions, emphasizing their forced dislocation. Through these artifacts, he proposes fragmented, subjective counter-histories that resist official erasures.
Beyond his artistic practice, Rabah has played a central role in shaping cultural institutions in Palestine. He is a co-founder of the Al Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, and as initiator and artistic director of the Riwaq Biennale, he has activated and restored historic sites across Palestinian villages, turning heritage restoration into an act of cultural resilience within a fragmented landscape.
Evidence is an installation that reflects on the olive tree as both a living organism and a symbol of rootedness, resilience, and displacement. At its center is an engraved marble plate, depicting either the roots or the branches of the olive tree—depending on the viewer’s position—inviting a shifting perspective of belonging and loss. Testimonies features 80 anatomical renderings of severed olive tree trunks that appear almost to exhale, as post-natural remnants. Together, these elements speak to cycles of growth and destruction, and the olive tree’s enduring cultural, political, and ecological presence.

we refuse_d is produced by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, on the occasion of their 15th anniversary, and presented in partnership with M HKA.
Curated by Nadia Radwan and Vasıf Kortun.