As part of the participation of Le Cube – independent art room in the Mahmoud Darwish Poetry Days – an international poetry event organized by the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou from September 25 to 27, 2026 – artist and writer Salima S. El Mandjra will present Sens à terre.
This narrative walk takes the form of a reading-performance that resonates with the various ways of inhabiting space found throughout the poet’s work.

“The mention of Mahmoud Darwish brings to mind the narrow perceptions that often define his legacy. Despite his desire to be recognized for his art rather than his identity, he remains, in the collective imagination, the poet of the Palestinian cause. Yet, the perspective he brings to his non-war-related works—focusing on more personal aspects of life—expands the interpretation of his writing beyond strict metaphor toward a more universal way of being in the world. Freed from the confines of a specific time and place, he emerges as a poet of singular style and sensibility, whose work resonates with the questions regarding how we inhabit existence and the earth that currently shape our shared humanity.”
(Salima S. El Mandjra)

Photo: © Ernest Pignon-Ernest