ANTI STORY - Reversed Image

ANTI STORY – Reversed Image is an ongoing art project since 2023, by Syrian multidisciplinary artist and cultural activist Khaled Barakeh. It is an open-source, collaborative project aligning itself with a broader history of artistic and intellectual resistance – a history that challenges the orthodoxies of power and insists on the legitimacy of alternative visions. The artwork in the project travers political and geographical intersectional contexts and have, so far, appeared in several countries.

Currently living and working in Berlin, Barakeh is experiencing firsthand the growing concerns in Germany regarding the heightened censorship and surveillance of speech that criticizes the government or challenges certain political ideologies. By highlighting the importance of national constitutions and international human rights agreements, the project underscores the necessity of safeguarding fundamental rights. It emphasizes the need for constitutional protections against transient and shifting political and administrative influences, where political actions, whether framed as national security or public order, are frequently used to silence opposing views and deny alternative narratives a legitimate space.

Within this framework, the project challenges conventional interpretations by reemphasising the Palestinian flag into a new visual expression using a strategy of inverting the colors of the Palestinian flag to their complementary counterparts. With this aesthetic achievement, Barakeh transforms a politically charged symbol into a visually abstract form, turning the flag into a global symbol of freedom, resistance, and solidarity in the face of escalating censorship, particularly affecting pro-Palestinian voices in Germany.

As an open-source project, these altered flags can be captured through photography or videography in spaces where their display is restricted or prohibited. Participants can then digitally restore the original colours of these images using simple tools or applications, thereby creating visuals that circumvent censorship while asserting the right to self-expression. To connect you may # www.instagram.com/anti.story

ANTI STORY – Reversed Image operates not only as an artistic intervention but as a form of cultural and political critique that resonates beyond the immediate context of Palestine. In a world increasingly defined by binary oppositions, this project situates itself as a counternarrative, seeking to broaden the horizons of solidarity to encompass all forms of resistance against oppression and cultural repression. It invites global audiences to rethink the relationship between symbols and their sanctioned meanings, and to reflect on how regimes of representation consolidate power and engage with the possibilities of reimagining these regimes in more just and inclusive ways.

In the end, this open-source, collaborative art project asks a crucial question: How can the aesthetics of resistance reveal the deeper structures of authority that seek to define, limit, and control the horizons of human freedom? Asking this question calls on us to recognise that the struggle over representation is, at its core, a struggle over the meaning of justice itself.

Engaging with these contemporary issues of narrative control, this project rejects the exploitation of anti-Semitism allegations to shield oppressive policies, thereby silencing valid critiques. It firmly opposes all forms of hatred and discrimination. Having experienced these kinds of allegations, Barakeh has co-created the 48 ANTI statement list in response, taking a stance against oppression in any form:  

ANTI ANTISEMITISM / ANTI ZIONISM / ANTI OCCUPATION / ANTI APARTHEID / ANTICOLONIALISM / ANTIGENOCIDE/ANTIETHNIC  CLEANSING / ANTI DISPOSSESSION / ANTI FANATICISM / ANTI  SETTLEMENT / ANTI SUPPRESSION / ANTI CENSORSHIP / ANTI PROPAGANDA / ANTI MILITARISM / ANTI TOTALITARIANISM / ANTIIMPERIALISM / ANTI DEHUMANIZATION / ANTIOPPRESSION / ANTI INJUSTICE / ANTI DISCRIMINATION / ANTI INTIMIDATION / ANTI VIOLENCE / ANTI SIEGE / ANTI RACISM / ANTI HATRED / ANTI AGGRESSION / ANTI BIGOTRY / ANTI DOUBLE STANDARD / ANTI MARGINALIZATION / ANTI EXPLOITATION / ANTI SEGREGATION / ANTI PREJUDICE / ANTI BRAINWASHING / ANTI DESPOTISM / ANTI MANIPULATION / ANTI POLARIZATION / ANTI WAR / ANTI MISINFORMATION / ANTI EXTREMISM / ANTI ETHNOCENTRISM / ANTI XENOPHOBIA / ANTI TORTURE / ANTI CORRUPTION / ANTI CULTURAL APPROPRIATION / ANTI DOMINATION / ANTI ERASURE / ANTI CANCEL CULTURE

The collaborating activists have chosen to remain anonymous, not merely as a protective measure but as a deliberate resistance to the surveillance apparatuses of contemporary state power. It is an act of defiance that asserts artists’ right to create without the looming threat of state violence.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Khaled Barakeh is a multidisciplinary conceptual artist, activist, and cultural director. Rooted in his 'Practice of Necessity,' he uses creative thinking processes as a primary tool to address social injustices, human rights violations, and structural inequities. His projects transcend material limitations, transforming each work into a dynamic conversation between the real and fictional, narrative and conceptual, individual and collective. Founder of Berlin-based coculture, a nonprofit merging art, activism, and community building, he empowers underrepresented artists and spearheads projects like the Syrian Biennale and TheIndex.art. Following October 7th, he launched several pro-Palestine projects to fight oppression and censorship in Germany.

Barakeh's work has been exhibited and collected by museums, biennales, and other private and public institutions and venues worldwide. In 2023, he was shortlisted by the Körber-Stiftung and Exilmuseum Berlin for its Exile Visual Arts Award. Barakeh’s 2020 MUTE installation led to his invitation to write on the "Syrian State Torture on Trial" (2023) for the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. A sought-after speaker on art and democracy, Barakeh has been invited to the World Festival on Arts and Culture, Open Society Foundation, Shubbak Festival, Salzburg Global Seminar, and more. His art practice has seeded collaborations with international organisations such as Amnesty, Impunity Watch, and the Danish Refugee Council. Among others, he was supported by the Ford Foundation, the European Cultural Foundation, and the Allianz Foundation to advocate for exiled cultural producers and present their work.

For more information, please visit:

Webpage: https://www.khaledbarakeh.com/index.html

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/khaled.barakeh/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StudioKhaledBarakeh/