Charlotte Bank

Curator, writer and photographer.

Location: Berlin

Background

I mostly describe myself as a wanderer between worlds, a wanderer whose existence remains
in a state of in-between-ness. I do not have a “home country”; rather I feel attached to several
places in different countries I have lived in. I left my country of birth (Denmark) at the age of
three to move to Luxembourg and was thus obliged to cope with new languages and countries
from very early on. I very soon made the surprising discovery that not all people understood
what I was saying. And while some people might see this as a traumatic experience, I rather
think this left me with an understanding that my way of perceiving the world and of
expressing my thoughts and feelings is just one among others, and nothing to be taken for
granted. I believe that my openness towards the world derives from these early experiences.
Growing up between Luxembourg, France, Italy and Denmark increased my awareness of the
importance of diversity and of how useless any assertions of superiority, whether national or
cultural, are. Human culture, the “culturalization” of the human race and the way humans
interact with their environment have always been of great interest to me, something that led
me to the study of Near Eastern archaeology in Heidelberg in Germany. This professional
basis is in fact a highly problematic one. A field traditionally deeply involved in the European
colonialist project with its efforts at mapping, framing and describing the colonized countries,
cultures and people with the aim of controlling them and keeping them subjugated, it is a field
strongly in need to re-assess its involvement in the Middle East. An increasing awareness of
this problematic past is slowly beginning to emerge inside the field; however, it will take many
years before all aspects of it has been cleansed of its colonialist past. It is still very present in
many aspects of the field and in the attitude of many of my colleagues and this eventually led
me to abandon archaeology in favour of contemporary culture and art, even though I remain
keenly interested in the archaeology and early history of the Middle East as an historic
“melting pot” of peoples and cultures. Due to my training and work I have spent much time in
different Arab countries during the past 12 years; I have worked as an archaeologist in Jordan,
Syria, Oman and Yemen and conducted extended research in Syria and Lebanon. I have
grown fond of people and places and I am much affected by current events in the region; Iraq,
Lebanon and Palestine…these are issues of concern to me. Unfortunately Western media is
doing its best to convince people of insurmountable barriers between our two regions and I
see it as my role to contribute to a better understanding and dialogue, even if this remains on
a small scale. How destructive prejudices can be became clear to me when I tried to move to
Denmark in 2001. After almost 30 years spent in different countries as a foreigner, I felt I
needed to explore my roots, maybe to find a place to call “home”. I came to Denmark with my
foreign diplomas and all my foreign manners. And realized that being born in a place does not
necessarily make you belong there, or facilitates settling there, in fact it does not even
necessarily make you feel welcomed. It was a strange experience but it also heightened my
awareness of how important it is to counter intolerance wherever we find it and interestingly
enough, I believe my work has gained in sensitivity. I tried to find a place in Danish society for
six years and then decided to leave the country again. I am now settling in Berlin, one of the
world’s most exciting cities at the moment and a city with an international and vibrant art and
culture scene, a city that celebrates its cultural diversity. I am planning to stay here and
continue working internationally.

My Work

Much of my work is interdisciplinary. I work as a curator, writer and photographer, often

combining different aspects. Lately I have curated a number of film and video programs that
have been shown at film festivals as well as museums and other institutions. My focus has
largely been on new Syrian experimental works, something that is not very present on the
international film/art scene, but also Lebanese and Palestinian works. While this is something
I plan to continue in the future and I am indeed hoping to expand this field, I am planning a
number of interdisciplinary projects during the next months, among these a video project on
memory work among the Palestinian diaspora in Damascus and an international exhibition
project exploring experiences of exile and migration. Another project of mine, in many ways a
work in progress, is an exploration of urbanity in the Old City of Damascus, a place full of
magic, but highly endangered, due to misunderstood modernization and touristic
development. “A Fraction of Eternity” is a photographic project that incorporates writing and
I hope to present it as an exhibition in the near future. A simple version is presented at my
website and will be extended over the next months:

http://www.zakharif.eu/pageID_5586514.html

The multi-faceted character of my work and interests invites a combination of the academic
and the creative, of research, analysis, writing and photography. I also consider it a good way
to reach a greater number of people. My work is much influenced by my hybrid experiences.
In my photography I aim to capture the uncertainty and fragility of human existence, the
traces of human interaction with space, flows and movements as well as the search for an
identity and a place of rest. In photography, I am interested in an aesthetic of the hidden. My
images usually hold some kind of twist. One has to look beneath the surface to find it.
I am not interested in beautiful images just for the sake of beauty, but always searching for
deeper meanings. For this reason, I sometimes use images of contemporary destruction, never
to aestheticize destruction as some might think or as “picturesque ruins”, reminiscent of 18th
century estate owners’ built ruins and not in a documentary way either, but rather as a
reminder to look further into things before making a judgement. I always aim at showing the
hidden, the unexpected and the forgotten. I try to challenge people and their ideas about the
world. And I try to confront stereotypes in all shapes. In 2007 I started a photo/video project
on hijab fashion in Damascus. The discussions in Europe pro or contra veiling and head
scarves are in my opinion very much besides the point. I welcome critical reflections on the
topic, but all too often there is an unfortunate tendency to stereotype and the arguments
against the habit are often sadly racist and uninformed. My project is neither for nor against,
it is meant as a light-hearted invitation to see the world from a different angle. I am still
working on the video, the progress of the project can be followed on my website:

http://www.zakharif.eu/pageID_5586509.html

For me, contemporary culture is hybrid and any attempt at “purity” is artificial. Cultures have
always grown through the exchange and intermingling with others. It is my hope that more
people will realize this in future. There are some highly interesting developments going on in
urban youth culture. Young people in large urban centres are exposed to many different
cultures, languages, traditions and ideas and it is getting increasingly common to select one’s
own hybrid identity from these elements. This is expressed in music and dance styles, in
fashion, in design, in leisure activities and is often done with a high awareness and is an
exciting new way of identity building and understanding of the concept of “culture”. It is
something worth following closely and holds a great deal of hope for a future based on
dialogue and understanding rather than confrontation and hostility. Through my work, I hope
to add my small contribution to this future, a future that recognizes the importance of a
multitude of experiences. I will end by citing Homi Bhabha*, because his words sum up the
basis of my work: “To be true to a self one must learn to be a little untrue, out of joint with
the signification of cultural generalizability” (The Location of Culture). * Homi K. Bhabha
teaches at Harvard University where he is the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English and
American Literature and Language and Director of the Humanities Center.

You can visit Charlotte's profile on Expat Arts Network here and view earlier profiles in the
"About . . . " series here. Feature posted: February 2009