Group Exhibition
in collaboration with the Zawyeh Gallery, Ramallah & Dubai
SZ Gallery - Mercer Island, WA
05 April - 31 May 2024
In this unique exhibition, twenty-six artists come together to raise their voices, through a series of posters produced specifically for this exhibition. The posters shed light on the ethnic cleansing and horrific massacres taking place in the Gaza Strip - possibly the worst in modern history - demanding the recognition of Palestinian rights to live freely on their land with dignity.
Representing a long tradition in Palestinian history, political posters were produced extensively in the seventies and the eighties by the Palestinian Liberation Organization with the contribution of Palestinian, Arab, and international artists. Posters played a crucial role in supporting the justice of the Palestinian cause and promoting it globally guided by the freedom, dignity, resilience, and the ongoing aspiration for independence, sought by Palestinians.
Uniformly sized and designed in a simplified manner, the posters of each artist reflect their uniqueness in terms of style, materials, and the underlying narratives. Steering away from the digital norm, participating artists poured their effort into producing those posters utilizing a variety of materials including acrylics, inks, charcoal, collage, and mixed media on paper, while some artists employed various digital design techniques.
Tapping into the posters’ subjects, the themes vary, yet all the artists denounce the Israeli crimes, Western complicity, and call for humanity to prevail. Themes that address human rights violations in Gaza, are evident in the works All Rights Not Reserved by Hosni Radwan, All Rights Reserved by Yazan Abu Salameh, and Ekhtilal by Asad Azi. Artist Nabil Anani demands in his poster to Stop The Genocide and Sliman Mansour works on revealing the attempts to conceal the scenes of destruction, bombardment, and killings. Gazan artist Mohammed Joha encapsulates anxiety and worries towards his family living in Gaza in his poster Sleepless. The heavy weight of grief and melancholy also manifests in Gazan artist Hazem Harb’s poster. Artists Aude Abou Nasr and Dyala Moshtaha express grief and anguish in different ways. The renowned Lebanese revolutionary singer Khaled El Haber participates with a sarcastic handwritten poster that reads, We are doing fine in Gaza… What about you?!
While Hassan Manasrah and Vera Tamari call for the freedom of Palestine, artists Mahdi Baraghithi, Rana Samara, Jafar Dajani, Saher Nassar, Haneen Nazzal, Issam Al-Haj Ibrahim and Majdulin Nasrallah use strong symbols of resistance and resilience in their posters to reflect that Palestinians will not leave their land and will continue the struggle. Bashir Makhoul mourns thousands of children martyrs and their dreams in his poster Lost Words, and Gazan artist Tayseer Barakat chooses to work on the theme of memory where those atrocities are engraved.
The three artists, Bashar Alhroub, Wadei Khaled and Iraqi artist Reda Alyasari, focus on the warmth of family and motherhood, whilst Bashar Khalaf and Fuad Alyamani depict the lethal missiles dumped from the sky towards the “safe homes” of Gaza.
Catalogue, ‘Posters for Gaza’
Copyright © 2024, Zawyeh Gallery
Photos courtesy of the artists and Zawyeh Gallery
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