From conflict to canvas: Gaza stories brought to life in US exhibition

A woman holds her daughter close to protect her as Israeli bombs fall. An injured but undeterred man stands in defiance. Shirts drenched in blood and pain, caught in the crossfire of conflict. These are some of the artworks on display at an exhibition that opened in Washington on Friday, expressing the stories from Gaza’s history, conflict and resistance in bold, colourful strokes of paint.

Gaza Remains the Story features 33 artworks by 28 Palestinian artists who call the coastal enclave home. Some of the artists were killed in Israeli air strikes during the past 18 months of war. Others are either in exile or facing harsh conditions under bombardment, including displacement and starvation.

The exhibition, curated by the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, Palestine, was adapted for the Museum of the Palestinian People in Washington by Wafa Ghnaim. It is open to the public from April 11 to November 2.

“In adapting the exhibition for audiences in America, I wanted to highlight some really specific prompts and reflections to American audiences who needed to take a moment to think about all that they witnessed this past year and a half,” Ms Ghnaim, a dress historian and archivist, told The National. Ms Ghnaim was born and raised in the US after her Palestinian parents immigrated in the early 1980s.

“Visitors can ponder what it means to bear witness responsibly with care, with thought, and not to be paralysed by our own fears and our sadness.”

Heba Zaqout, an acrylic artist and schoolteacher, viewed art as a form of resistance and a reflection of Palestinian identity. She was killed, along with her two sons, in an Israeli air strike in October 2023. All of her original works were destroyed, but a print of one of her paintings, showing Jenin's landscape, now hangs in this exhibition as a tribute to her life and legacy.

Another featured artist, Fadi Ghaben, was born in the village of Hirbiya in the Gaza Strip and was known for portraying everyday life under occupation.

He incorporated the Palestinian flag into his paintings, an act that led to his arrest by Israeli forces in 1984 and the confiscation of seven of his works.

Ghaben died on February 25, 2024, after being denied permission to travel abroad for medical treatment. On display at the exhibition is one of his striking pieces: a painting of a wounded but defiant man rising in resistance.

Also featured is the work of Mohammed Sami, a visual artist and muralist from Gaza city, who was killed when a missile struck Al Ahli Arab Hospital on October 17, 2023, where he had been sheltering and helping others. His contribution to the exhibit is a nostalgic painting of audio cassettes, a depiction of Palestine’s music culture in the 1970s.

Nearby, a photograph taken in January 2023 shows the sisters who founded the clothing brand Six Flowers. A year later, their home and business were destroyed in an air strike. Yet in this image, they are captured in a moment of creativity and optimism – a glimpse of life before the devastation.

But not all of the exhibition is focused on loss. Historic photographs from family albums fill up an entire wall space and offer a glimpse into life in Gaza before the world’s gaze turned to it.

As Ms Ghnaim walked through the section, she pointed at some of her favourite and most relatable photographs: an image of three little girls playing in the sea on a summer day; a man posing in his suit, vest and dress shoes, crouching in the sand near the sea and an older woman and her family wearing sunglasses and peeking out of the bushes at a park.

“I think, always in my work, throughout my life, I felt that Palestinians have been best represented through our suffering and through our death,” Ms Ghnaim added. “So, there is a need and a vital component to the American public, seeing Palestinians as whole, as more than just that, but in the other side of it. What did it look like when we were alive and creating and producing, even if it was against all odds, even if it was under tremendous suffering?

“I think that that's tremendously important always, but absolutely, especially most important in the last 18 months.”