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Palestinian Artist Nashashibi Channels Grief for Gaza into Symbolic Art
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

Palestinian Artist Nashashibi Channels Grief for Gaza into Symbolic Art

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Palestinian-British artist Rosalind Nashashibi uses symbolic and beautiful paintings to process her grief over Gaza.
  • Her exhibition 'Get me a stone' at the Vitoria's Artium museum features works from 2021-2026 and a film.
  • Nashashibi avoids graphic imagery, opting for symbols like horses, swans, and chrysanthemums to reflect the occupation's impact.

Palestinian-British artist Rosalind Nashashibi confronts the horror of the Israeli occupation of Gaza not through explicit depictions of violence, but through symbolic and aesthetically compelling paintings. Her exhibition, 'Get me a stone,' currently on display at the Artium museum in Vitoria, Spain, offers a deeply personal and artistic response to the ongoing conflict.

I cannot make paintings of the images seen on social media.

— Rosalind NashashibiThe artist explaining her decision to use symbolism rather than graphic depictions of the conflict.

The exhibition, running until November 1, showcases paintings created between 2021 and 2026 that subtly allude to the occupation. It also includes a film, 'Occupation of the inner life,' where Nashashibi explores potential futures using imagery from her studio and family. The artist, whose father is Palestinian and mother is Northern Irish, described the works as a way to "manage" her "own frustration and sadness" stemming from the occupation's devastating consequences.

symbols, signs, different shapes to satisfy the need to reflect what is happening in Palestine today.

— Rosalind NashashibiNashashibi describing her artistic approach to representing the situation in Palestine.

Nashashibi explained her deliberate choice to avoid graphic content often seen on social media. Instead, she employs "symbols, signs, different shapes to satisfy the need to reflect what is happening in Palestine today." These symbols include horses, now used in Gaza to transport the injured, as well as swans and chrysanthemums, traditionally associated with death. Other works more directly, though not gruesomely, convey the situation in Gaza, incorporating elements like beds, clothing, and the acronym UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

find and offer solidarity, which is essential for making life more bearable.

— Rosalind NashashibiNashashibi on the role of solidarity in coping with the ongoing conflict.

The exhibition also features compositions with hands holding stones, a potent symbol of resistance against Israel. Nashashibi believes this artistic process helps her "find and offer solidarity," which is essential for making life more bearable. The exhibition's curator, Catalina Lozano, noted that Nashashibi's art provides a "way of relating to horror" through "sensitive, personal, and affective mediation."

way of relating to horror through sensitive, personal, and affective mediation.

— Catalina LozanoExhibition curator Catalina Lozano describing Nashashibi's artistic method.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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