Hadar Hacarmel: I never thought I would ever find you, yet here you all are.

Photopolymer etching on paper, 145 cm x 315 cm (59 in x 124 in), 2025

El-Malak had always heard from his maternal family that his great-grandfather, Haj Khalil Taha, owned several buildings in the Hadar area of Haifa. As a result, Maroun Tomb’s title Hadar Hacarmel served as the starting point for reimagining. Research led to Haifa-based historian and researcher Dr Johnny Mansour, who identified the locations of the buildings. In a touching twist of fate, almost ninety years after Haj Khalil Taha was shot on the streets of Haifa in 1936 for his leadership of the Haifa Strike Committee, someone completely unrelated to him carries the legacy of this family history. Digital search led to several articles mentioning his murder and his son’s subsequent murder. Through this series, El-Malak takes ownership over the digital experience and the images published online. As a starting point, the images are a reclamation through the act of censorship and through the sensorial and laboursome process of creating and printing photopolymer etchings. In his slow, mindful process El-Malak finds a way of telling his family history while grounding it in the present, evoking a sense of belonging and the possibility of return. 

Faissal El-Malak is a Palestinian multidisciplinary artist based between London and Dubai. Interested in themes of memory and the metaphysical he sources images from the subconscious through his work as a healer. He holds an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths University of London, UK, with the support of the Tashkeel Scholarship Fund, where he was awarded the Warden’s Prize for his degree show. El-Malak’s work in fashion was acquired by the V&A Museum in London, making him the first Palestinian fashion designer in their permanent collection.