In an article last month we remembered the Nakba, that catastrophic moment in Palestinian history that has become part of its identity. That year of 1948 he forever shook Palestinian society, transforming all aspects of their lives, including art and culture. From then until now, the artistic creation of painters, cartoonists and poets speak of exile, dispossession, love of the land and resistance, and there are several icons that these artists use in their creations to represent this spirit of struggle, of hope and longing that is part of the Palestinian identity. In today’s article we will see some elements of Palestinian iconography and some works by artists who have used them.
In Palestine, art is almost always synonymous with resistance and it is that in a context where the occupation has been responsible for destroying, repressing and censoring all expressions of the Palestinian, this people has always found innovative ways to continue resisting, since as they say : “to resist is to exist”.
Jeziret Gallardo, 2015.
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It is now common for Palestinian flags to be confiscated and Palestinians to be fined for waving them. However, the violence against the Palestinians also attacks other symbols such as the olive tree, whose cultivation is the livelihood of thousands of families, but it is also a symbol of their connection with the land and of resilience, given that olive trees are capable of resisting long periods of time. seasons without water. For this reason, settlers living illegally on Palestinian land continually mutilate, uproot and steal (yes, steal and plant them in their colonies) ancient olive trees on Palestinian farmland as a way of trying to eliminate their sources of income and changing history in favor of the Zionist narrative, that is, erasing them from the map.
Despite all this, the flag flies in the traditional protests that take place every Friday in various towns in occupied Palestine and the farmers continue to pick the olive tree despite the attacks and impediments they have each year to access their farmland .
Thus, Palestinian artists use both the flag and the olive trees in their creations on a recurring basis to capture the reality of their people; but, in addition to these elements, there are some others that are also part of the Palestinian collective identity and that are reflected in the works of local artists and in the diaspora through the decades, for example:
- La fiya. A square scarf made of cotton and embroidered with very particular patterns, the traditional one is white with black embroidery, although it can also have red embroidery. Currently there are versions with different colors of fabric and embroidery. Although the embroidery patterns of the kufiya have a broader symbolism, in general terms this garment is an element widely used during protests, but also on a daily basis as a garment either on the head or on the neck. It is for this reason that it is an element that artists use in their creations, such as the illustrator Shirien Damra (@shirien.creates).
- The key. It is common to see old keys in paintings and other artistic representations because many Palestinian families keep the original keys of the houses where they lived before the implantation of Israel on Palestinian territory. Although the olive tree is more recurrent in his paintings, Sliman Mansour (@ sliman.mansour) uses keys in works such as “The fight continues” and “The revolution was the beginning”.
The Dome of the Rock. It is the emblematic golden-domed mosque that is in Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, a city that holds a special place in the Palestinian identity. The artist Dalia Elcharbini (@daliaeart) just a few weeks ago was working on a new work where she incorporates this element.
However, there were times when the Palestinian flag could not be waved either in the streets or in the paintings, but this only prompted the emergence of new forms of protest and expression, and some artists incorporated a local product into Palestinian iconography to challenge this ban: watermelon. One of the artists who has taken to the watermelon for his artistic expression is nothing more and nothing less than Khaled Hourani (@khaledhourani6), director of Fine Arts of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, who made a large-format work entitled “Flag of the watermelon” which was exhibited in Toulouse, France.
However, Hourani was inspired to paint the watermelon by Sliman Mansour’s story in which he relates that an Israeli soldier told him that it was forbidden not only to paint the Palestinian flag, but even to use the colors of the flag in his art with what exemplified that if he painted a watermelon, it would be confiscated. So the idea actually came from the soldier and quickly Hourani, Sliman and later other artists, like Basmah Kishta (@basmahdoingart), started using watermelon in their creations and even children in Gaza were holding up defiant slices of this fruit.
Another element that was recently incorporated into Palestinian iconography was the spoon, this after, in September 2021, six political prisoners escaped from an Israeli maximum security prison by digging a tunnel with spoons. This event was celebrated throughout Palestine and it did not take long for numerous political comics and murals to be made showing the spoon as a symbol of resistance and freedom. Even other Arab artists from the region made sculptures in honor of this fact, such as the one by Maitham Abdal (@maitham_abdal) from Kuwait.
In the case of poetry, the work of Mahmud Darwish (1941-2008) stands out, considered the Palestinian national poet who, originally from Al-Birwa – a small town in the Galilee region – was forced to flee his home during the Nakba. His critical poetry focuses on denouncing the abuses and injustices committed by Israel against the Palestinians, which cost him several arrests between the 1960s and 1970s. Darwish has some thirty volumes of poetry in addition to eight books of prose. Among his works are the collections of poems: “Olive leaves” and “In love with Palestine” in which, through the lyrics, he preserves part of the history and collective memory of the Palestinians.
As Mansour says, “when you deny the existence of a people, it is very easy to take their homes and their lands”, therefore, Palestinian art becomes a legacy that reaffirms the existence of a people, their struggle and that they resist. is to exist.
Jeziret Gallardo
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