Nov 6, 2014

On a corner near Rashid al-Haddadin Square — named after the founder of Ramallah — passersby get the impression that a painting on display is none other than Picasso’s Guernica, which was inspired by the German and Italian shelling of the Basque country during the Spanish civil war. Palestinian caricaturist Mohammed Sabana and graffiti artist Hamza Abu Ayash protect their painting like a child they are afraid of losing in a crowd, proving that it is the Palestinian Guernica, as they describe it.

The two artists completed their masterpiece in the framework of an “artistic uprising” as part of the second Qalandiya International Festival. The Palestinian version of Guernica revolts against Picasso’s dark colors of black, gray and blue, and includes red hues, symbolizing revolution and sacrifice. Even though the artists maintained Picasso’s cubist style and oil painting method, they found their own style, through content and squeezing in caricatures and graffiti. We can see, for instance, a woman carrying stones, and people stoning the occupier in the first Palestinian intifada. We can also see the slingshot, veil, flag and other symbols portrayed in harmony. The artists have added other dimensions to the drawing that simulate the graffiti of the first intifada.

Sabana told Al-Hayat, “Wall painting is an attempt to simulate the murals in the first intifada. They resemble news channels, social media networks and billboards reporting what is happening, especially strikes, sit-ins, martyr obituaries and civil protests. Whoever wrote national slogans or drew graffiti against the occupation on the walls of houses and shops was either beaten or jailed as punishment, while passersby were obliged to cover the drawings with white paint. It was painful to see that the elderly and women were not excluded from punishment. The Guernica with Palestinian features carries symbols and elements related to the first intifada, which we saw as an archive that we artistically revisited, as part of an artistic uprising protest — one of the biennial festival’s activities.”

Then the main march of the artistic uprising was not carried out for reasons related to the sudden absence of one of the participating teams, but the cold weather did not prevent school children in Ramallah from singing intifada songs enthusiastically. The amazing songs of Walid Abdel Salam, like “Nzelna 'al Shaware,” “Thawri” and “Yoya,” were heartwarming for the audience. Most people wore the Palestinian keffiyeh. Some performances weren’t staged due to technical or coordination issues, like the exhibition of the international Palestinian artist Rana Bechara about women in the intifada. Bechara’s works included mirrors on which she printed the photos of women who participated in the first intifada. She wanted to hang them in Rashid al-Haddadin square and the surrounding streets, but was unable to.

According to the organizers, the project revists an epoch of Palestinian history that has been disregarded — the intifada epoch. They wanted to “revive what is left of its memory through collective work to create a related voice and image.”