SIXTEEN renowned Bahraini artists have expressed their solidarity with the war victims of Gaza by showcasing their colourful works on Palestine at an art exhibition.
Titled ‘Black, White, Green and Red’, the show is being held at the Albareh Art Gallery in Adliya, in collaboration with Bahrain Gallery, as part of the Spring of Culture.
Using watermelons as a symbol, the exhibited artworks ‘aim to blend artistic expression with the aspiration for a liberated Palestine’.
The event is being held under the patronage of Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, chairwoman of the Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Centre for Culture and Research.
Palestinian Ambassador Taha Abdel Qadir also visited the event.
“The use of watermelon imagery is a collective effort to elevate the watermelon as a beacon of hope,” the gallery said in a statement.
Watermelon is believed to have emerged as a Palestinian symbol after the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel seized control of the West Bank and Gaza, and annexed East Jerusalem. According to reports, the Israeli government at the time made public displays of the Palestinian flag a criminal offence in Gaza and the West Bank. To circumvent the ban, Palestinians began using the watermelon because, when cut open, the fruit bears the national colours of the Palestinian flag – red, black, white, and green.
Scores of art lovers have been flocking to Adliya to view the beautiful paintings, collage pieces and sculptures, with each artist contributing two works.
Among them are two dolls named after two Gazan schoolchildren killed by occupation forces, handmade by multimedia artist Ghada Khunji.
The hand-painted figures of ‘Yusif’ and ‘Reem’ stand with an expression of agony and grief, each holding a watermelon and donning a kufiyah around their necks.
“Of the masses of people wrongfully killed, my heart has a special space for the children they have lost,” Ms Khunji told the GDN.
“It is beyond horrific what is happening to them.
“As I create more of these dolls, they will look slightly different and with other names of children that have passed. They are all uniquely different and special.”
Painter Sayed Hasan Alsari also portrayed children from Gaza in his paintings, which highlighted the contrast between the juicy fruit and the fact that the people in the strip have nothing to eat.
Another painter, Ali Hussain Merza, used the show as an opportunity to discuss the historical dimensions of the topic at hand.
“Painful images from Palestine have been carved into our consciousness since we were young, as are all the photos we see nowadays from Gaza,” he told the GDN.
“As a generation that witnessed the Intifada and the wars on Gaza, terms like ‘peace’ and ‘co-existence’ are no longer sufficient for us.
“My paintings represent Palestinians in their two states – loving life and striving to get rid of the occupation. In fact, Palestinian people have become symbols of the human condition.”
He said he wanted to express that sentiment in his pieces ‘We Love Life’ and ‘Shawadh’, named after an improvised weapon traditionally used by resistance groups.
Also exploring the human condition from a Palestinian lens is sculptor Jamal AlYousif, who took a more abstracted approach through his two glass and stainless steel sculptures.
The first piece is a glass watermelon with seeds made from steel, and another was made up of four semi-circles based on the exhibition’s colour scheme.
“What inspires me in my work is the drama of the human condition – humans can either rise high like angels, or sink to the bottom, reaching the level of the devil,” the industrial designer told the GDN.
“The pieces were made from molten glass, which I cast into moulds and fired in a kiln,” he said, going on to explain in detail the very complex and sensitive process of casting glass.
He added that the suffering experienced by the people of Gaza has been expressed through the stress lines and wavy textures produced by the cooling down of the glass.
“Stainless steel is an unwavering material while glass is temperamental and fragile. I try to marry the two in my work, as they represent the polarity of the human condition.”
Printmaker Mona Al Motaz also took a simplified but nevertheless meaningful approach to the topic.
“Since the war on Gaza started, I noticed the use of watermelon as a symbol, but didn’t understand its meaning,” she said.
“So I researched it and discovered its relationship with the colours of the Palestinian flag. I decided to begin creating artwork to express my support for the people of Gaza.
“I made six small pieces but I decided to re-create them as bigger versions for this show.”
Other artists featured in the show are Shaikha Hala Al Khalifa, Shaikha Marwa Al Khalifa, Ebrahim Alghanim, Balqees Fakhro, Maryam Fakhro, Mohammed AlMahdi, Abbas Yousif, Omar Al Rashid, Rasha Khalid, Khalid Farhan and Khalid Al Muharraqi.
‘Black, White, Green and Red’ is open from Saturday to Thursday, from 9am to 1.30pm, and from 4pm to 8pm until February 22.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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