Portrait with Oranges 2015

Editor: This is Sliman Mansour's "Portrait with Oranges," created in 2015, an acrylic on canvas painting. The figure emanates stillness and resolve. I can't help but focus on the vivid oranges set against that almost Byzantine-gold background. What do you make of this portrait? Curator: It calls to mind both ancient icons and a very modern yearning. Mansour's flattening of space throws the woman and the orange grove into almost symbolic relief. The oranges, of course, immediately make me think of Jaffa – Palestine's most famous export, its shattered economy. And the woman's embroidered dress... it's almost screaming Palestinian identity. Does she look defiant to you? Editor: Yes, there's a quiet power. And you are right, that geometric embroidery seems almost like an assertion. How does this portrait build on the "Orientalism" style that's in its tags? Curator: Well, here we dance on tricky ground. Orientalism often exoticized or misrepresented people from the Middle East. But Mansour is an insider, reclaiming the gaze. He isn't painting for a European audience hungry for exoticism. He's painting for *his* people, reflecting their resilience. It’s about honoring and preserving cultural heritage. See how those oranges almost seem like watchful eyes, like witnesses? Editor: That's such a vivid image. It’s made me see the oranges less as props, more as participants. This work certainly has depths. Curator: Exactly! And hopefully, by looking closer, we gain not just an appreciation for art but a deeper understanding of ourselves and each other, and maybe…just maybe…even taste the sweetness and the bitterness of those Jaffa oranges.