Medium

Shadi Habib Allah is a Palestinian artist whose work spans film, sculpture, installation, and drawing, engaging deeply with the hidden and often overlooked systems of power that shape contemporary life. His art is grounded in the everyday realities of marginalized communities and the invisible infrastructures that control and surveil them. By uncovering these hidden mechanisms, Habib Allah forces the viewer to confront the unseen forces that govern, restrict, and shape human existence.

Invisible Economies and Unseen Networks

Habib Allah’s work frequently delves into the idea of invisible economies, those systems of labor, trade, and exchange that exist on the margins of society. His 2013 film 70 Days Behind Inventory, for example, explores the informal economy in Miami’s Liberty City, documenting the complex relationships between individuals living within a system that is largely overlooked by the mainstream. This focus on the invisible, the marginalized, and the undocumented is a recurring theme in his work, which often situates itself within these precarious and overlooked spaces.

His projects do not merely observe these communities from an outsider’s perspective. Instead, they immerse the viewer in their everyday reality, engaging with the lives, struggles, and ingenuity of those living on the fringes of legality and visibility. Habib Allah’s work underscores the fact that power does not only operate through official channels but also through informal, unseen networks.