SPAIN / EGYPT

El Fellah Ando Fes (The Peasant Has A Hoe), 2013.

Ink and graphite on paper, 24 cm x 33 cm.

El Fellah Ando Fes (The Peasant Has A Hoe) explores the transformation of contemporary peasantry in Jordan. What we see is a calligraphic exercise that portrays the precaritisation of small farmers. Within the context of public schooling, calligraphy and grammar occupies a big place in the curriculum.

Carrying out tasks of an idealised nature such as using a hoe, sleeping under the shade of a tree, or going for a ride on his horse, the figure of the small farmer or peasant is often used as an archetype for syntax exercises. The protagonist of this text negotiates a series of shifts from the privatisation of water to the introduction of open market policies that have led to the disruption of traditional farming practices. Consequently, the farmer is no longer able to 'eat roast dove, 'get his daughter married' or 'build his house'.