We are pleased to present artworks from The Legend of the Palestinian Sasquatch. 

In The Legend of the Palestinian Sasquatch, Amanda Boulos explores family narratives from Palestine, Lebanon, and Canada. This series features Sasquatch drawings resembling her male relatives, alongside landscapes of significant places that have shaped her life, from Prince Edward Island and Alberta to Lebanon and Palestine. Full series was first presented at Centre Clark in Montréal from October 31, 2024 – December 7, 2024

Artist Statement

A boy hangs off the Rouche, an iconic rock formation on Beirut’s coast, yelling,“Oh my God!” He is preparing to jump 50 feet into the polluted waters of the Mediterranean Sea. There are two other boys; one has a camera (the same camera that allows us to re-watch the event), and the other, exasperated, blurts out, “This guy is stupid!” As we watch the video, we witness a transformation. The transformation could be minor, in which he changes from a boy to a man. Or we could be witnessing a traumatic transformation, one that can mean death or the loss of a limb or consciousness. I constantly think about the moment one realizes their identity has transformed, like the moment one realizes that they are no longer a virgin, that someone has passed, and that they are unhappy. Those moments of realization are never at the exact moment of the event but always come after. Most of these transformations have no immediately noticeable consequences; your life still moves forward. You still eat, drink and sleep. When you realize the transformation, it is only because you have a memory; your memory makes you realize that something has changed. And the time between the moments before and after the transformation is critical and curious. If the thing that makes you transform is destructive, your transformation is destructive; if what makes you transform is productive, your transformation is productive. In either case, a complete disfiguration occurs, a force that shakes your identity to form a new one. 

Biography

Amanda Boulos (she/her) is a visual artist and educator based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Boulos engages with fragmented national narratives from Palestine, Lebanon, and Canada to explore how oral histories can morph into the future of the Palestinian diaspora or shattat. She received her MFA from the University of Guelph and her BFA from York University. Boulos has exhibited in Toronto, New York, Montréal, and Halifax. She is an Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at OCAD University,  a Toronto project space the plumb member, and a Toronto Palestine Film Festival programmer.