Susanne Khalil Yusef (1984) was born in Germany. Her parents were Palestinian refugees. She and her family spent her childhood wandering through five European countries, looking for a place to build a life. She currently lives and works in the Netherlands.
Khalil Yusef obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree in visual arts in 2018 at the St. Joost School of Arts & Design in ‘s Hertogenbosch. During her studies she became more and more interested in her family history. This resulted in researching the Palestinian people.
Khalil Yusef makes compelling and colorful installations. She does this by combining different media. Examples include murals, canvas paintings, textiles, video and light objects. She regularly invites people to perform within her installations, such as a spoken-word artist, a writer and an Arabic Tarab Ensemble.
At first glance, Khalil Yusef’s brightly colored work seems light-hearted and playful, but on closer inspection the work hints at suffering and dangerous situations. The artist asks critical questions about themes in her home country such as being chased out of your own country, identity and socio-geographical power relations.
Photo: Café Disorient – We want to live (2021)
Location: Museum het Valkhof
Fotographer: Flip Jansen