Palestinian Affairs (Shu'un Filastinyya) is a quarterly magazine issued by the PLO's Palestine Research Center (PRC). The magazine publishes articles (in Arabic) related to Palestinian politics, culture, economics, international relations, and other subjects. Issues 1 (1971) through 135-136 (March-April 1983) were published in Beirut. The publication moved to Nicosia, Cyprus after a car bomb attack on the Center in February 1983, which killed eight staff members. It resumed publication in the summer of 1985. Publication stopped with Issue 244-245 (July-August 1993) for financial reasons, but resumed again in Ramallah in November 2011. The long-time director of the PRC was Sabri Jiryis and editors of Shu'un Filastiniyya included Anis Sayyigh and Mahmoud Darwish, and others involved included Faisal Hourani, Bilal al-Hassan, and Mahmoud al-Khatib. The General Union of Palestinian Plastic Artists consulted on the selections of the cover art from the 1980s onward.
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Rochelle Davis, Louisa Ainsworth, Andy Marimoto and Jessica Michek organized the technical preparation of this Special Collection
PA covers on Dropbox
Inbox
x
Rochelle Davis drraddc@gmail.com
9:29 AM (1 hour ago)
to me
I did not use SendThisFile. I can only upload 5 at a time. And I have hundreds. Not happening.
All of the covers are all up on Dropbox. I shared the folder with you -- you should have got a message with
a link. I just sent another.
You should be able to move the folder onto your desktop and it will move them there (but will take some time).
R
On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 1:28 AM, Dan Walsh wrote:
despite valiant efforts on this end...i was not able to open the SendThisFile...file...d
On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 12:42 AM, Dan Walsh wrote:
ok
On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 12:39 AM, Rochelle Davis wrote:
No need for memorabilia. I think just a note would be fine.
I'll also find them something and it can be from both of us.
I've already given them books and bought them lunch.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 12:31 AM, Dan Walsh wrote:
...solidarity interns and will see if I can't come up with some memorabilia for them.
tayyib?
d
Dan Walsh
10:08 AM (28 minutes ago)
to Rochelle
yeah, I meant to say Dropbox...it is downloading now...THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!
Is it clear to you that I REALLY appreciate all this work you and your cohorts did?
Rochelle Davis drraddc@gmail.com
10:24 AM (11 minutes ago)
to me
Yes, they are.
Here's what I noticed.
First group of abstract have no artist mentioned. Occasional subject mentioned. (20 or so)
Then they move into the David Roberts-esque stuff, with no artist but with subject mentioned. (20 or so) [these two groups weave back and forth]
Then they do some Palestinian artists, with artists mentioned. (25 or so)
Then there are some International artists (just a few of these), artists' names, no subject/title. (10 or so)
Then back to Palestinian artists (or artists making art about Palestine, artists' names, no subject/title. (the rest)
[these are broken up on a couple of occassions -- when Ghassan Kanafani was murdered in 72, right after the 73 war, and when Khalil al-Wazir was murdered in 88/89?].
And about 83 they shift to Cyprus (the relevant page is in there)
All of the ones by Palestinian artists say "selected by the General Union of Palestinian Plastic Artists."
that might be the key to figuring out who the art director was....
Rochelle Davis drraddc@gmail.com
12:36 PM (0 minutes ago)
to me
and it is published in Beirut not Cyprus.
It will switch to Cyprus after 1982 or so.
I'll let you know when...
But up to 82 it is in Beirut.http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2011/10/judging_books_by_their_covers_81.htmlAbout a month ago I started getting emails from my friend Charles, who works for the Journal of Palestine Studies. He started digging up old issues of an Arabic language sister journal Sha’un Falastiniya, with amazing covers. According to Charles, "Sha’un Falastiniya (Palestinian Affairs) was first released by the PLO’s academic department. in 1971—in Beirut—called the Palestine Research Center. It was edited for a while by the legendary Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish, before it and its staff were eventually pushed into exile in Cyprus with the rest of the PLO, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It finally stopped publishing in 1993 in Cyprus. It contained political, literary and academic articles, analysis, criticism, and book reviews."
Although I only have these ten issues to draw from, the early issues have a similar vibe to some of the design work in the Cuban journal Tricontinental (produced by OSPAAAL, the solidarity organization well known for its poster design). They are diverse and open in color scheme, and use a lot of found imagery, mixing things that otherwise wouldn't go together (for example, 18th or 19th century landscape etchings with photographs of Palestinian guerrillas!). At the same time the clean masthead and limited palette (most are duotone or tritone, not cmyk) combine with the classical print imagery to generate a very clean, efficient, and almost conservative design.
Issue #12, below left, has multiple images of Ghassan Kanafani (Palestinian author and leader of the PFLP) layered over a 19th century etching of Jerusalem. This cover is the most OSPAAAL-esque, with its push and pull between the past and present, color saturated images, and oblique reference to armed struggle. The cover next to it (Issue #13, 1972) is much simpler and cleaner, and the simple act of colorizing the etching makes the cover.
Issue #14 features a 1920s image of Jerusalem from the 1920's, with a decoratively framed inset image of the above mentioned fedayee. The cover next to it is #25, from 1973, and is a grid of propaganda books which are celebratory of zionist terrorism, drawing a contrast and connection between the armed struggle of the PLO and the brutal tactics of the early zionists.
It appears as if a new designer took over between the early editions above, and the later ones below, from the mid-80s onward. Either that or the covers are just a sign of the changing aesthetic tastes of the times. These newer covers are much less designed, and instead are more illustrative, with a single painting making up the entire cover below the masthead. (Below are issues #176/177 form 1987, and #202 from 1990)
A painting of a statue-like central figure dominates the cover of Issue #209 (1990), below left, with a swirl of abstract, multi-colored text filling its core. Are the words the heart or soul of the person? Trying to escape through its mouth? Issue #215-216 (1991), below right, seems to be an exception to the painted covers, with a cover that appears to be derived from a tapestry, or patterned fabric. It's pretty striking, and I wish I could read the text that appears to be embedded in it.
This last cover (issue #221-222, 1991) has the most representational of these later covers, with an expressive painting of a crowd in motion, women and children both facing off against and running from a phalanx of Israeli soldiers. Charlie also sent me a scan of the back cover, which gives some more contextual information for the magazine.