Art as Survival: Palestinian Artists Shaping Creative Resistance in Palestine

Nabil Anani’s Exit into the Light, leather and mixed media on wood [Courtesy of Nabil Anani] Source: Al Jazeera – www.aljazeera.com – “How Palestinian artists carry the New Visions spirit of resilience,” published 16 November 2025.

Palestinian artists continue to carry forward the legacy of New Visions — the groundbreaking movement born during the First Intifada that championed cultural resistance and artistic self-reliance. Founded by Nabil Anani, Sliman Mansour, Vera Tamari, and Tayseer Barakat in 1987, the movement rejected Israeli-supplied art materials and instead turned to the land itself: sheepskin, clay, leather, wood, and natural dyes. Each artist developed a distinct language rooted in these materials — from Tamari’s ceramic olive trees to Barakat’s burned wooden forms and Mansour’s cracked clay surfaces that echoed Palestine’s fractured landscape.

Their vision shaped not only visual culture but also institutions, culminating in the establishment of the International Academy of Art Palestine in 2006, later integrated into Birzeit University.

A new generation is now expanding this heritage under even harsher conditions. In the West Bank, artisan-designer Lara Salous collaborates with shepherds and weavers through her social enterprise Woolwoman, creating contemporary wool furniture while navigating settler violence, blocked roads, and restricted access to rural lands.

In Gaza, young artists like 18-year-old Hussein al-Jerjawi turn scarcity into creativity by painting on UNRWA flour bags when canvases are impossible to find. Gaza-born Hazem Harb, working from Dubai, also draws on the movement’s experimental spirit.

Across regions, Palestinian art remains a quiet but unyielding act of resistance. With minimal materials and constant obstacles, these artists transform everyday objects into carriers of memory, endurance, and cultural continuity — sustaining the New Visions ethos through each stroke, crack, and thread.

Source: Al Jazeera – www.aljazeera.com – “How Palestinian artists carry the New Visions spirit of resilience,” published 16 November 2025.