Scholar David Mendelsohn in conversation with Rafram Chadad about his ordeals and quite unbelievable story of imprisonment by the Ghaddafi regime. In 2010 Chadad was asked to take photographs of sites of Libyan-Jewish interest when he was arrested as a spy. He documented this questionable adventure in a book titled “Rafram’s Guide to the Libyan Prison” published in 2012 and soon to come out in English translation. Chaddad, an Israeli artist and cook with dual Tunisian-Israeli citizenship, will share the story of his imprisonment and how he was finally released, not through state-to-state negotiations, but the efforts of an Austrian businessman.

Rafram Chaddad (b. 1976) Born on Djerba, an island off the coast of southern Tunisia and grew up in Jerusalem where he completed his art studies. Since 2005 he has been working on his art practice mostly between Europe, Israel and based in Tunisia in the last 8 years. In 2010, while working on a Jewish heritage project in Libya, which focused on documenting the remains of Jewish Libyan communities, he was kidnapped by the Libyan secret police and was held for six months in the notorious Abu Salim prison. Later on, Chaddad wrote an account of his incarceration, titled, “Rafram’s Guide to the Libyan Prison,” published with Am Oved publishing. Since 2019, he has been conducting research for Leftovers, an upcoming book investigating how food practices in cities formerly occupied by the Ottoman Empire are inter-connected. The book highlights recipes particular to each place and oral histories around food-making that challenge the nationalization of food and encourage us to approach food as a shared experience. Rafram’s work reflects on his personal life experiences and comments on broader socio-political issues including migration and displacement, identity and belonging. Over the past twenty years, he’s created dozens of short films and installations, which have exhibited worldwide in cultural institutions, galleries, and museums, including: Kunst im Tunnel, Dusseldorf; Kunstraum, New York; Kayu Lucie Fontaine Gallery, Bali; Lucie Fontaine, Milan; ArteEast foundation, New York; Halle 14, Leipzig; and Zalatimo, east Jerusalem. Chaddad has held solo shows at the Mucem Museum in Marseilles and the Maximilian Forum in Munich, among others. Since 2021 Chaddad has been a guest critic in the MFA program of Columbia University.

Dr. David Mendelsohn supervises the entire academic program of Kivunim. His areas of expertise include Islamic Studies, History and Culture of Arabs with Israeli Citizenship, Bedouin Law and the relationship between language and culture in Arabic and Hebrew. His current research examines the influence of Hebrew on the dialects of Arabic spoken in Israel. Mendelsohn also lectures on the history and relationships between Middle East countries and militant organizations. David holds advanced degrees in diverse fields: a Ph.D. Classics / Linguistics, an M.A. in Archaeology / Linguistics and an Honours B.A. in Classical Studies. David is the recipient of one of Canada’s highest academic honors, The Trudeau Prize, and is a world medalist in wrestling. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Ronny and 3 children.

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