PRO-OCCUPATION

Pro-Occupation is a live/action and installation project in solidarity with Palestine.
The Olive tree is there to represent peace not only in Palestine but with all the neighbour countries.
The Olive tree resting, finally can root itself and EVERONE is welcome under its shadow.
with this project, Matlakas "Pro" will occupy pieces of land in foreign countries giving back the lost lands to Palestinians with the hope that soon, the conflict will stop and people from any nation will find refuge, under the shadow of the same tree.
The occupied area will vary in size according to the possibilities of the territory.

The performative intervention, therefore, includes a ritual where the artist holding an olive tree in his arms, like a newborn baby, connects to the pain of the Palestinian people, that pain that Jews suffered in the past but that, unfortunately, is continuing under a different name but the same race, the human race.

The olive tree will be planted during the performance and delineated by a perimeter, later declaring it Palestinian land.

The olive tree will represent the artistic action of Pro-occupation and reclamation of the Palestinian land, a symbol of the arrest of the daily injustice that the Palestinians have to face every day.

The title suggests favorable occupation (Pro), projected towards a more sustainable way and where an occupation, in this case, becomes a necessity; we, therefore, pass from a concern towards the Palestinian people and the injustices suffered day after day, for too long now. This work is created with the acknowledgement of Jews' past suffering and the utmost respect towards their loss.
Pro-Occupation wants to promote peace and solidarity and giving symbolically back lost land to the Palestinians.
The artist traveled to Palestine in 2015 for an artistic residency which was then destined for an exhibition at the Museum of Palestine in Cape Town. after creating a mural on the apartheid wall and creating various performances on Palestine including "Sweet Thorn" where the artist frees himself from a structure of 100 meters of barbed wire donating red roses to passers-by.
From the various conversations about finding a way to change things in Palestine, the artist, in the small of him, decides to occupy and restore the lost land of the Palestinians through art. Art can do anything, says the artist during a conversation with Palestinian Human Geographer, Anis Daraghma; and now art has already given birth to two "Pro-Occupations", attracting interest from other organizations to create even more Pro-Occupation interventions. In the second action In Aielli (Abruzzo, Italy) the performer Pro-Occupied in the presence of the mayor of Aielli Enzo di Natale and the Palestine ambassador in Rome Aree Odeh a piece of land of 9-meter square, planting inside an Olive tree in July 2021. finally, Matlakas manages to carry out the project that he had already had in mind for two years. From concern to the action of "Pro-occupying". this project will only end when Palestine is free. This action wants to be a promoter to Palestine/Israel peace.

So far This action and installation were created in:

Monticello Amiata Tuscany, July 2021 - Pro_Occupation #1
Aielli, Borgo Universo, July 2021 - Pro_Occupation #2
Pompei, Naples, September 2021 - Pro_Occupation #3
London, Uk. P21 Gallery, November 2021 - Pro_Occupation #4

Below videos and documentation of the action with the Ambassador of Palestine Abeer Odeh, Aielli, July 2021.