Ina Constantin

“Trebuie să cunosc bine situația” 

(“I must know the situation [on the ground] very well”)

_{2025, Bard College Berlin}

Mixed Media

Countless photos of Nicolae Ceaușescu and Yasser Arafat can be found online. Captured moments of an alliance that remain intriguing. One particular image, dated 1974, likely from their meeting in Beirut, stands out. Arafat, clad in his signature keffiyeh and what appears to be a winter puffer jacket, sits mid-speech, smiling, his arms resting on his knees. Beside him, elbows brushing, Ceaușescu leans in slightly, dressed in a dark suit and a bold tie, gazing at Arafat with what seems like admiration or quiet amusement. They look like two endearing boys. Two charming gentlemen. Neither of them looks at the camera; they are engrossed in conversation. It’s a candid shot, illuminated by flash, zoomed in just enough to make one pause and wonder: What was the context of this meeting? What kind of alliance were they forging, and on what basis was it formed? In other words, what is happening here behind the scenes? What remains unseen – just outside of the frame?

This photograph, along with “Trebuie să cunosc bine situația” – a phrase Ceaușescu often repeated to Arafat during their meetings – served as points of departure in my work.

I look at the alliance between Romania and Palestine during the 1970s alongside the current student solidarity movement with Palestine in Berlin.