The loss and resilience of Palestinians, captured by artists
Story by Leila Hawkins
Photo: Homeless family / Iman Shehaby / P21 Gallery
Among the artworks at a London exhibition featuring Palestinian artists is a painting of a wide-eyed girl eating ice cream with tears streaming down her face. The story behind it is horrifying: painted in red hues, the colour was achieved by mixing paint with the blood of an unidentified boy killed in a carpet bombing; the ice cream symbolises the grim reality of Gaza’s ice cream trucks having to double as morgues because existing mortuaries are unable to cope with the insurmountable death toll.
It is the work of Khalil Khalidy, a doctor who remains in Gaza where he treats critically injured children and adults at his hospital on a daily basis, often in too serious a condition to survive. He is one of 25 artists on show at Art of Palestine: From the river to the sea, which aims to highlight the brutality of life for Palestinians since October 2023 to the present day, as well as the realities of living under occupation during the preceding decades.
A special display features illustrations by Gazan children who were asked to sketch what they saw during Israeli attacks in 2008-2009 as part of a therapy project. It is impossible not to feel emotion seeing images of destroyed playing fields and homes turned to rubble, in the unmistakable simplicity of a child’s drawing.
But there is also colour and celebration. A key feature of the exhibit are the tapestries, a result of the Palestinian History Tapestry Project. These brightly embroidered works were created over a period of 12 years, mostly woven by women living in refugee camps. It is the culmination of a project first proposed in 2011 by Jan Chalmers, who has worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza. She previously contributed to the creation of a 122-metre tapestry illustrating 300 years of South African history leading up to the end of apartheid, stitched by village women living in poverty on the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
“The tapestry is a Palestinian treasure,” explains exhibition curator Faisal Saleh. “It represents a very important cultural asset for Palestine. Each panel talks about a different aspect of Palestinian history, or a different era.”
The panels show displaced families, military watchtowers and cities in flames; but also colourful landscapes and scenes of ‘normal’ daily life. Historically, different villages would have their own embroidered motifs, Saleh says, usually worn on clothes. “We call them ‘thobes’, a type of embroidered crest that Palestinian women would wear, who would also be behind their production. Recently these have become another symbol for Palestine, along with the ‘keffiyeh’ embroidered dresses.”
“Women have always been the backbone of the resistance,” Saleh adds. “They are the ones that fueled and started the first and second intifadas in the West Bank, and they continue to play a major role in Palestinian resistance, side-by-side with men.”
Among the artworks, a digital screen with a counter tallies up the numbers of civilian deaths over the years, and shows the shrinking of Palestine’s borders, putting the unimaginable suffering of this population into sharp focus. The show’s organisers have said they want the exhibit to provide a space for dialogue and reflection, highlighting the importance of creativity as a form of resistance. It also spotlights Palestine’s cultural heritage at a vital moment in time when it faces its greatest existential threat.
Art of Palestine: From the river to the sea is on show at P21 Gallery until December 21.
READ MORE
One thought on “The loss and resilience of Palestinians, captured by artists”