For Khalil Rabah, the act of planting and rooting trees extends beyond the symbolism of a gesture of steadfastness and transforms the planter into someone that thinks about ecological, critical, and historical correction. “Grounding,” his work for Desert X AlUla 2022, is a circular constellation of an olive grove field, showcased by the Botanical Department of The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind, Rabah’s ongoing project investigating the ways in which history is socially constructed through material culture. Using the olive tree in the desert as a motif for life, a symbol of perseverance, and an element that connects people across cultures and borders, Rabah engages with themes of displacement, memory, and identity to examine the relationship between humans and their surroundings, as well as the nature of global human suffering. Read more at desertx.org Photography by @lance.gerber @khalilrabah #desertxalula @_desertx @artsalula @reemfadda @raneemfarsi @nevillewakefield