Posters for Gaza

‘Posters for Gaza’: Palestinian artists denounce the Israeli massacre through art
04 November 2024 - 11:59
4 minutes

Núria Garrido

Ramala, Nov 4 (EFE).- “I really liked the idea of doing a poster exhibition because it is a format that requires you to send a message to the world, and in this case, the message is against the atrocities and genocide of Israel in Gaza,” veteran Palestinian artist Vera Tamari tells EFE from her hometown of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

Tamari is one of the Palestinian artists, out of a total of 26, whose works are included in the exhibition ‘Posters for Gaza’, which after passing through Washington and Dubai now arrives in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where it will be on display until December 4 at the Khalil Sakakini cultural center.

This initiative, as explained to EFE by the project coordinator, Sara Naba, is a joint collaboration between the Zaweyh Gallery cultural centre in Dubai and the Khalil Sakakini cultural centre in Ramallah with the aim of donating the money raised from the sale of the posters to the devastated Gaza Strip, where Israeli bombings have not ceased for more than a year after the start of the war.

"The posters are simple and go straight to the point of what the artists want to say. In addition, they were very important during the First and Second Intifada for the Palestinian cause. Behind these pieces are Palestinian authors who still have family in Gaza, others who live in the West Bank and others who are in the diaspora," Naba explains.

Messages of denunciation

The forcefulness that Naba speaks of can be read in posters that say ‘everything passes, but not everything can be forgotten’, ‘stop the genocide’, ‘not all rights are guaranteed’, or the poster of the only Lebanese artist in this exhibition, Khaled el Haber, who ironically asks himself using the image of a bombing: ‘I am fine in Gaza, how are you? ’

Tamari’s poster, in a more abstract style, reflects the painful reality installed in the enclave after more than a year of war and more than 43,000 dead; but at the same time it opens a door to hope.

«I don’t like to explain the meaning of my poster because each person makes a different interpretation and that seems very interesting to me. But I do want to think that there is a space for hope, that is why at the bottom we see that dark black and at the top there is more color. Although I know that we will need decades to rebuild the Strip,» he laments.

Palestinian artist Bashar Jalaf also wants to expose the fragility of life in the Gaza Strip in his poster, which is covered in flowers threatened by bullets. “This exhibition does not have an aesthetic purpose, but above all a political and humanitarian one. We want to express the pain and death in Gaza through our art,” says Jalaf.

Asked if they are afraid that Israel will take some kind of reprisal against them for these artistic pieces, Jalaf is convinced that he will continue using his art to denounce the Israeli massacres.

A feeling shared by the artist Tamari: “I feel that the Palestinians have that energy to overcome problems and survive. I trust my people. We have wonderful people: intellectuals, artists, thinkers and scientists… they are all over the world but they share the same solidarity.”

However, Sara Naba admits that moving this exhibition to East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel unilaterally, would be impossible. "There is no problem here in Ramallah, but Israel practically bans all cultural activities in Jerusalem, such as screenings or exhibitions, which question its offensive in the Gaza Strip," he adds.

That is why visitors like Roman, a Frenchman who works and lives in Jerusalem, have travelled to Ramallah to see the gallery. "I think it is important to see what Palestinian artists are doing at the moment. In the end, art is one of the spaces in which they can express themselves most freely," he says. EFE
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