2022–2023 Roulette Resident Artist Muyassar Kurdi’s Where My Olive Trees Grow (in four movements) is a ritualistic interdisciplinary work that honors the ancestors through an exploration into free sound and deep listening. Large scale oil paintings act as graphic scores for the musicians who embody a world beyond borders and walls. These abstract paintings represent landscapes in Palestine where olive trees grow and the indigenous thrive in abundance. As an act of protest and empowerment, Where My Olive Trees Grow lives in color, embodiment, memory, and healing while meditating on issues of displacement and colonialism.

In conversation with Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and his ruminations on visible music and musical gardens, this work offers visual poetry to those who have been silenced.

Muyassar Kurdi: voice, electronics

Ben LaMar Gay: cornet, voice

Lester St. Louis: electronics, cello