the afterlife archive

open studio & short film screening by Nisreen Tahhan

Since May, Palestinian artist Nisreen Tahhan has been in residency at La Escocesa as part of the 2026 Emergency Residency Programme for Artists and Cultural Workers in Palestine, organised by the TEJA network.

As her residency draws to a close, she will open her studio to present a series of experiments in banana fibre papermaking, developed both in Palestine and during her time at La Escocesa. It will be followed by the screening of The After Life Archive, an experimental short film documentary that explores alternative forms of archiving through paper made from banana fibres, showcasing the material processes and relationships involved. 

The film emerges from Nisreen’s ongoing research into reapproaching her family’s land in Jericho, in the framework of her residency space, Bayn al-Nakhlatayn (Between the Palm Trees). It extends into a proposal for an open ecological and artistic space where land is treated as archive, material, and active resource for workshops and collective learning.

This project was developed in collaboration with Sofia Lambrou. Their work together began with Cremisan Herbarium, a research exploring ecology and memory through plants from the Cremisan Valley. Bringing together sound, image, and ecological research, this ongoing exchange shapes both the experimental structure of the project and its presentation. 

There will be cold drinks and Palestinian snacks to share during the event, cooked by Shaima Hamad.

bios 

Nisreen Tahhan. Multidisciplinary artist, architect, and cultural practitioner working across photography, installation, and material research. Her practice focuses on socially engaged approaches combining analogue photography, alternative printing methods, and sculptural work. She is currently developing Bayn al-Nakhlatayn in Jericho, a space dedicated to research and workshops using natural materials such as banana leaves, palm fibres, and organic residues to develop slow, material-based approaches to documentation and land-based practice.

Sofia Lambrou. Greek-Spanish visual and sound artist working between Paris, Bethlehem, and Berlin. Her practice combines sound, image, and research through long-term immersion in specific contexts. She develops radio works, field recordings, and collaborative projects that explore memory, displacement, and ecological relations through experimental narrative forms.

Abdulrahman Hashlamon. Palestinian artist and graphic designer working across Arabic lettering, illustration, and visual research. His practice revolves around expression, language, and storytelling, with work that moves between personal narratives and collective histories. The poster was designed by him. 

Shayma Hamad is a multidisciplinary artist born in Jerusalem who has been living in Spain since 2024. Having graduated with a degree in Law from Birzeit University in 2019, her practice explores relational aesthetics shaped by social norms and codes of coexistence in communities affected by colonialism, occupation and various environmental conditions, with the aim of imagining alternative ways of life. She is currently developing Food in Law, a project founded in 2018 which, as an extension of her artistic activism, examines human rights and social justice through collective experiences centred on food.

collaborators on the film

7orz: sound design
Sari Tarazi: macro and analogue photography & videography
Mohammad Bakri: videography 
Abdulrahman Hashlamon: typography and graphic design 

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