Balfour Reparations is a critically acclaimed performance lecture created and performed by Palestinian artist, Farah Saleh. The work investigates the United Kingdom’s colonial legacy in Palestine, focusing specifically on Arthur James Balfour. Balfour, who held roles as Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, and long-serving university Chancellor, was instrumental in shaping the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which denied Palestinian political rights in their homeland and has had far-reaching consequences still present today. 

Balfour Reparations takes the form of a performance lecture reviewing an apology letter that the UK has issued in 2026 to the Palestinian people, promising reparations. Set twenty years later, in 2046, the performance looks back from this imagined future, creating a reparations evaluation committee in which the audience becomes an active participant. The performance interrogates how history is remembered, reframed, and repaired, while also questioning the role of the UK in upholding colonial legacies. 

Through this unique framing, Balfour Reparations does not simply recount history. Instead, it opens a shared imaginative space where audiences can grapple with ideas of accountability, justice, and the possibility of collective futures built beyond colonial structures.