The clouds are gone and have left me homeless, and
The mountains have flung their mantles and concealed me
– Mahmoud Darwish

Walking into Sfeir-Semler’s downtown space in Beirut, visitors will encounter a series of rolled fabrics, on which the imprints of rusted keys linger. Inspired by Ahmad Al-Za’atar, a poem by celebrated Palestinian author Mahmoud Darwish, Taysir Batniji’s installation from 1997 poignantly pays tribute to those forcibly displaced in 1948, who carried along the heavy door keys to their homes, thinking they will soon return. Batniji captures the traces of what looks like thick, iron-forged objects with a reddish-brown patina, that have become obsolete, as if trying to pin-down ethereal memories on the canvas.

The exhibition reflects here on a moment when history seems to echo itself. The central work in the show entitled Just in case was created in 2024 and premiered at the Biennale de Lyon. Using an object that often comes back in various forms in Batniji’s practice, the installation presents a series of images of keys, belonging to residents of Gaza, with each set connected to a specific place and person through the handwritten captions under the photographs. Capturing traces of lost, abandoned, or destroyed lives and homes, the work evokes the universal woes of the human condition.