In 2019, Maia Gattás and Francisca Khamis Giacoman met in the West Bank. Their correspondence, rooted in shared memories and layered histories, continues to explore how water shapes Palestinian landscapes, experiences, and diasporic connections. The first two letters were published last autumn. We now invite you to read letters 3 and 4.
Drawing from personal archives, historical documents, and cinematic references, their letters are an ongoing dialogue between places and pasts, interweaving memory, geography, and resistance.
In the first two letters of this exchange , Maia and Francisca establish the central themes of their dialogue: the fluidity of water as both an archive and a witness, the landscapes of displacement and longing, and the act of correspondence as a means of preservation.
In Letter 3, "The Union of Rivers," written from Bariloche, Argentina, Maia reflects on the parallels between her surroundings and Palestine. She draws connections between firebreaks and ceasefires, rivers and histories, tracing an affective cartography that links Patagonia, Buenos Aires, and the Jordan River through the persistent movement of water.
In Letter 4, "Fear of Forgetting," Francisca, writing between Santiago and Amsterdam, meditates on the fragility of memory and the significance of the tuna fruit—both a firebreak and a symbol of resilience. In an archive conceptualised as water, memory shifts and reshapes the ground it touches, resisting erasure much like the cactus that withstands fire.
Through these letters, Maia and Francisca continue to map connections across distance, water, and history, contributing to an ever-growing collective archive. We'd like to invite you to engage with and reflect on their exchange.
Read the letters on plotting.rietveldsandberg.nl
In the first two letters of this exchange , Maia and Francisca establish the central themes of their dialogue: the fluidity of water as both an archive and a witness, the landscapes of displacement and longing, and the act of correspondence as a means of preservation.
In Letter 3, "The Union of Rivers," written from Bariloche, Argentina, Maia reflects on the parallels between her surroundings and Palestine. She draws connections between firebreaks and ceasefires, rivers and histories, tracing an affective cartography that links Patagonia, Buenos Aires, and the Jordan River through the persistent movement of water.
In Letter 4, "Fear of Forgetting," Francisca, writing between Santiago and Amsterdam, meditates on the fragility of memory and the significance of the tuna fruit—both a firebreak and a symbol of resilience. In an archive conceptualised as water, memory shifts and reshapes the ground it touches, resisting erasure much like the cactus that withstands fire.
Through these letters, Maia and Francisca continue to map connections across distance, water, and history, contributing to an ever-growing collective archive. We'd like to invite you to engage with and reflect on their exchange.
Read the letters on plotting.rietveldsandberg.nl
Maia Gattás and Francisca Khamis Giacoman met in the West Bank in 2019. Francisca was conducting a residency in Birzeit, and Maia was traveling to film scenes for her documentary "Viento del Este" (2023). They have committed to exchanging letters to engage in a dialogue about various memories related to water in the occupied territory of Palestine.
The research group Art & Spatial Praxis launched the digital artistic research platform Plot(ting) on April 17th 2024. Plot(ting) emerges as a publishing platform showcasing art, research, and spatial practices. Currently it harbors contributions by Flavia Pinheiro, Giulia Damiani, Francisca Khamis & Maia Gattás Vargas, Neeltje ten Westenend & Hanneke Stuit, Mariana Balvanera, Patricia de Vries, Amelia Groom, and Liza Prins. Here you can read in brief about the different contributions. Read more on the plotting website: plotting.rietveldsandberg.nl
research group
Art & Spatial Praxis
Art & Spatial Praxis
project
Plot(ting)
Plot(ting)
