Art, Heart and Progress - The Artists

12 min readMar 10, 2016

In a shared world, I, like many, believe that it is a legitimate act, to raise issue when things are glaringly unfair and the institutions we have created to respond in arbitration are not responding adequately, to end the state of unfairness. I appreciate that this is not an easy task. In that spirit, this blog seeks to highlight the art and protest by and for Palestinians.
I have tried to include a wide range of artists from different perspectives, from across the world. I myself am learning about this conflict and the artists as I build this collection, this is currently a living page, being updated as you read, expect edit notes.
This is not an endorsement of the political views of any of the artists; mainly because I do not have the right to comment on how Palestinians should see their future.

When Politicians Fail

Artists of all genres have decided to nudge the world towards progress

The failure of politicians and illusory peace talks are evidenced by concrete walls and continuing blockades. However all is not lost, as among other efforts, an explosion of political art — charts a more grass roots effort, to end the stalemate. From performance art to street art. “Art, Heart and Progress,” collates, some of the artistic efforts, that have created a formidable civil society, concerned with the intransigence of politician in the face of very real suffering.

Originally a single blog post, I have split this into four parts, sometimes the contents overlap, it has also expanded out of the confines of art activism to Palestinian Art and Art History, however since their history has for some time been that of resistance, the subjects also overlap:

Art, Heart and Progress — The Artists
Art, Heart and Progress — The Art Galleries
Art, Heart and Progress — Art Activism
Art, Heart and Progress — Photography

The order of the sections is changing and likely to remain chaotic, jumping backwards and forwards in time and to and fro from Palestinians to International Artists and Events. This is not helped by that fact that there are hundreds, if not thousands of sites to choose from, all exploring art from a different perspective. I am at the moment keeping away from the most controversial images, however I am disappointing myself in doing so.

The sections at the moment are:

A Message
Artists
Links to Art For Sale
Bibliography

A Message

Are we responsible for making sure that non-violent political struggle is effective and succeeds? What happens when we block it?

Larissa Sansour, Visual Artist from Palestine/UK/Denmark, who participated in the first world conference on artistic freedom of expression, ‘All that is banned is desired’, held in Oslo on 25–26 October 2012

The Artists

Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme

Palestinian artist duo Basel and Ruanne has won the 2016 Abraaj Group Art Prize, the most influential art prize in the MENASA region.

“Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme work together across a range of sound, image, text, installation and performance practices. Their practice probes a contemporary landscape marked by seemingly perpetual crisis and an endless ‘present’, one that is increasingly shaped by a politics of desire and disaster… Extract from BasselandRuanne.com More information here: http://baselandruanne.com/

Mohamed Abusal

“Mohamed Abusal is a prize-winning Palestinian artist, now based in Gaza. He has exhibited extensively … He has drawn a reputation for his striking, highly-coloured abstract and semi-abstract paintings, sometimes worked around a cactus theme (a metaphor in Middle Eastern culture for resilience), cast in various moods.”

“He has been an international art scholar at the Vermont Studio Center — the largest artists’ residency programme in the US — and was awarded the Charles Aspry Prize for Contemporary Art in 2005” — Blurb extract from Alhoush.com where his work can also be purchased.

He has exhibited in France, US, Australia, Dubai and UK, The following is one in a series titled, “Make Me Free”

Nareman Faraj Allah

“Employing various symbolic characters, Nareman Faraj Allah’s work pulsates with tribal iconography. Yet most of these icons are symbols that she has devised; references to her life and upbringing. The central, prominent figure is likely a self-portrait and also a statement on the significance of the woman’s position and role in Palestinian culture and tradition.

Born in 1978, Nareman Faraj Allah holds a BA in Art Education from Al Aqsa University, Gaza (2004). She is a member of the Palestinian Artists Association, the Federation of Trade Unions in Palestine, the Paletta Group of Fine Art and the Roots Fine Art Group; all based in Gaza”
Blurb extracts taken from Gaza Traces

Mustafa Al Hallaj

“Mustafa Al Hallaj’s print creates a continuum of fantastic and folkloric imagery that spans ancient and modern times. He juxtaposes a vast and often idiosyncratic menagerie of symbols — bulls, camel men, birds, lizard-like creatures and fish, with fantastic landscapes and episodes of ancient and modern Palestinian life…This was to be his master-work, a fable casting himself as man, god and devil, an imaginary release from the boundaries of political regimes and from time itself. Sections of the original print were damaged and destroyed in the electrical fire that ended his life in December 2002…” — http://www.stationmuseum.com/Made_in_Palestine-Mustafa_Al_Hallaj/Made_in_Palestine-Mustafa_Al_Hallaj.htm

A slide-show of his work can be viewed, with a music arrangement for Piano, of PRAYER by G BRASSENS, Video content on linkedin frequently breaks, so please try this URL for more from this artist [“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNMRzmHk7C8"]

Mohammed Al-Hawajry

The website is under construction, currently I have no other information about this artist http://www.mohammedalhawajri.com/

Muhammad Al-Rakouie

“Muhammad Al-Rakouie taught himself how to draw with the materials he could acquire — crayon and cut pillowcase linen, while imprisoned in the notorious Ashkelan prison in Israel. Palestinian artists are prohibited from using the colours of their flag or making overt reference to their struggle for liberation and autonomy…”.

He now lives in a refugee camp in Damascus, Syria” — Image taken from Art of Occupied Palestine and blurb taken from Stationmuseum.com

Nabil Anani

“Anani, one of Palestine’s most eminent living artists, is a ceramicist and sculptor as well as a painter, and has received a number of art prizes. Now retired, but still active in the Palestinian art world, he was born in Latrun — a village west of Jerusalem — and was five at the time of the Nakba, the 1948 dispossession of the Palestinian people. He graduated in 1969 from the University of Alexandria in Egypt, and his work has been exhibited throughout Europe, North America and East Asia.” — blurb extract from Sarah Irving in the electronic Intifada, image from the site The Art of Occupied Palestine.

Nidal El-Khairy

Nidal El-Khairy is a Palestinian artist based in Amman, Jordan. I have no other information about him, the following artwork is titled, “Gaza’s Fishermen”.
Nidal El-Khairy’s blog (Incomplete)
Nidal El-Kahiry in Electronic Intifada

Yousef Katalo

“I don’t remember when I started: as a child, I already had a paintbrush in my hand. I studied art in Israeli prison, where I spent seven years of my life before Oslo agreement. Then I was detained by the Palestinian Authority and I continued to make art. At the beginning it was too difficult to obtain materials and tools to make art inside the jail, so the prisoners were using coffee and tea. All our works were confiscated by the Israeli authorities, but we managed to hide the smallest pieces”.

After the time in prison, Katalo transformed art into his life: he opened an art gallery in Hebron, the Turab Gallery, and started to hold exhibitions in Palestine and in Arab and European countries. “For some years, I couldn’t travel outside,” he says, “and even today I face many problems when I go abroad. But my work is well known now, here and outside of Palestine. For me art is a tool of knowledge. It’s holy, as is the human being and his cleverness”. Blurb extract taken from (http://www.recit.net/?Culture-Palestinian-identity-and)

Dalia Al Kayyali

“I Believe I Can Touch The Sky” and “Her Morning” (2016) Artist: Dalia Al Kayyali

Azza Alsharif

Currently I have no information about the artist.

Malak Matar

“Malak Mattar, talented 15 year old artist in Gaza, offers up her sympathy for Paris … More about her here: We are not Numbers. “I love Paris because it symbolizes happiness to me,” she says. “I feel sorry about what’s going on there now, so I painted this.” Malak started painting when she was 13 during Israel’s military attack on Gaza, when 551 Palestinian children were killed.” — Blurb from Art in Gaza

Salman Nawati

The Sea in Streets of City

Salman Nawati, first solo exhibition of paintings, “…centre around life in the Gaza port, encompassing at the same time feelings from life under siege and from the Israeli massacre of Gaza. The colours are vivid, as are the images and ideas” — Extract from blog by Eva Bartlett, Freelance Journalist. Art can be purchased here: http://www.celesteprize.com/salman.nawati

Dalia Ali Abdel Rahman

Currently I have no information on this artist.

Iyad Ramadan Sabbah

Sabbah’s most well known installation is, “ Worn Out”, which comprised of a family of sculptures, including a small child and a baby. They appear to move through debris and rubble and past shelled homes. Following is an extract from Lizzie Dearden of the Independent:

“…“Shuja’iyya neighborhood is one of the places that was completely destroyed, … the sculptures were put amid the wreckage of the destroyed houses in Shuja’iyya to show the suffering of the residents.” They were also placed on a beach to symbolise the refugees fleeing to other countries illegally in a desperate attempt to escape the conflict.

Raeda Saadeh

“Raeda Saadeh is a Palestinian artist who was born in Umm Al-Fahem, a Muslim village (now a city) in the northern region of Haifa. She completed art studies at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where she now lives….her questioning of the forces of both political occupation of the Palestinian territories, and personal occupation by traditional cultural and social expectations, have inspired her to focus on her own body with performance and photography” — Blurb extract from Artlink.au

Larissa Sansour

Born in Jerusalem, Sansour studied Fine Art in Copenhagen, London and New York. Her work is interdisciplinary, immersed in the current political dialogue and utilises video, photography, installation and sculpture.

Sansour’s work has featured in the biennials of Istanbul, Busan and Liverpool. She has exhibited at venues such as Tate Modern, London; Brooklyn Museum, NYC; Centre Pompidou, Paris; LOOP, Seoul; Queen Sofia Museum, Madrid; Louisiana Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark; House of World Cultures, Berlin and MOCA, Hiroshima.

Sansour is represented by Lawrie Shabibi in Dubai, Sabrina Amrani in Madrid and Montoro12 Contemporary Art in Rome. She lives and works in London.

Links to Palestinian Art For Sale

Links to places where Palestinian art is for Sale:
http://www.resistanceart.com/artwork.htm

References

Books

2013, Bashir Makhoul and Gordon Hon, “The Origins of Palestinian Art”, Published by Liverpool University Press, 2013

2009, Boullata, Kamal, “Palestinian Art”, Published by SAQI

2010, Parry, William, “Against the Wall”, Published by Pluto Press

Websites

Sites about Palestinian Art and Activism There are hundreds of sites about Palestinian art in many different languages, here are a few, chosen randomly.

International Artists

The Debate

The Art is bound with activism and political debate. So following is some of the information, that I have gathered so far, keeping in mind, that I am an external observer, still learning, who has only a limited understanding of the conflict so far.

The Non-Violent Movement
The largest bulk of Palestinian civil society is engaged in Non-Violent political struggle, however it seems that younger people especially are frustrated with the lack of movement and the continuing growth of the settlements.

As far as I can tell, there is a campaign coming from moderate Israelis and internationally which currently calls itself “Coexist”. Currently, and in my view unfortunately, it sets itself up as an alternative to the Boycott Divestment Sanctions Movement [BDS]. BDS is the movement most strongly advocated by Palestinian Civil Society, and includes Israeli progressives and international supporters of all religious backgrounds.

Coexist has the bigger names and big money behind it, it oozes slick. However in its current form, it has little support among Palestinians, probably hampered by its own nature. My initial view of Coexist is, it does not speak to the systematic oppressive existence faced by Palestinians, which is a by product of the occupation therefore, it becomes a campaign for benevolent inequality.

It is a shame, because a genuine movement that worked for longer term peace, and reconciliation (Genuine, measured in Palestinian empowerment) and was backed and supported by Palestinian civil society would probably be well received, however as yet it seems to be unnamed. This debate took centre stage in a series of letters between J.K. Rowling the author and a young Palestinian, Mia Oudeh.

The BDS Open Letters Debate

Letter by BDS in the Guardian
Letter by Coexist in the Guardian
Mia Oudeh to JK Rowling in the Herald Scotland
JK Rowling to Mia Oudeh in the Herald Scotland

More on Non-Violent Movements

BDS: Interview with BDS Dr Haider Eid
Coexist: Coexist Website
Culture for Coexistence: UK Campai gn

The Places

Ramallah