Through decades of the artistic struggle of Palestine in stations of creativity that conveyed pain and steadfastness in the most beautiful way possible, inspired by its humanitarian role as a soft force capable of influencing and placing art in its rightful place in the battle, motivated by resistance songs, cartoon drawings, and paintings by artists all over the world.
In these highlights, we discuss 3 experiences with the Jordanian plastic artist Omar Baddour, the Palestinian cartoonist Alaa Al-Lakta, and the Syrian artist and vocalist Yahya Hawwa. Deep and continuous experiences that recognized, across a diverse geography, the importance of Palestine, and how the artist belongs to its cause and message.
Because art is a powerful tool in conveying the suffering and resilience of the Palestinian people to the world, transcending the barriers of language and culture. These three experiences represent living examples of how Arab artists interact with the Palestinian issue, and how to use their various artistic tools, such as drawing, drawing caricatures, or singing, to convey the message of Palestine to a wider audience.
Championship erases defeats
We first stood with them at the flood battle of Al-Aqsa in its first year, and how it was renewed in themselves as artists, and what are the reflections that each of them finds in his conscience. In this, the Jordanian visual artist Omar Baddour says that he lives with the people of Gaza and turns his mind, thought, and art between many feelings that are summarized in two cases, the first of which is : The euphoria of victory, which he had never experienced before in his life of more than half a century, as he lived through defeats, fear, and humiliation, as he described it, as he did not believe that a few hours With a small number of champions, the cause was able to erase from mind the defeats of more than 70 years.
As for the second case, “I live with women, children, and the elderly, the destruction of homes, and the brutal situation that our people in Gaza are experiencing with the usurping occupier, from the bombing of homes, the destruction of dreams and souls, and the dismemberment of limbs without mercy or any scruple of pity from the occupier and his aides, and we live the pain that they are experiencing until it has become… The matter affects our psyches and my household, and I especially speak about myself. I grew 50 years old at once.” Baddour adds that this pain did not… There is an obstacle to his artistic role: “Every day I have a new painting and story with the resistance, which I live in the hope that I will paint the picture of the next liberation.”
As for the cartoonist Alaa Al-Laqta, he says: “This great memory painted a new reality on the ground, from which we as artists were inspired by the meanings of pride and dignity, and it inspired in our souls hope amidst the state of frustration and deterioration that the nation has reached, and because I am a son of Gaza, I took up my brush with pride and wandered in this small spot that It changed the balance of the entire region, and the spark of liberation was sparked from it.”
As for the artist Yahya Hawwa, he has “deep feelings of both sadness and hope,” as he described it. He adds: “I feel a responsibility as an artist to document these events through singing and singing art, and I always remember in my mind the memories of the steadfastness of our people, as well as the stories of the martyrs, as they push me to express them in works that immortalize these great sacrifices that they make, raise awareness, and keep the issue alive in the conscience and youth of the nation.” .
Confidence in the role of creators
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The audience looks at the artist with anticipation for what he produces at such important stages, and here the question is put before the artists: Why the hope placed on creators?
Artist Omar Baddour says that he finds positive reactions from the public when he meets them at conferences, and they greatly praise his works and how they are transformed into art exhibitions or paintings at marches and events. Baddour describes such responses with happiness and says: “This situation is enough for me that I contributed to this battle. What do the people of Palestine expect from me? I always say that we fight with our brush and expect to turn the brush into a gun one day. Regarding the message of art to the world, he says: Our paintings depict the bitter reality as a speech. For other nations that are absent from the facts portrayed by the occupier, we must communicate our ideas to the world so that it sees the barbaric enemy occupier for what it is.
As for the cartoonist Alaa Al-Laqta, he confidently asserts that art represents the soft resistance that supports the armed resistance on the ground, and that art has a great role in the battle for awareness, refuting the false narrative of the occupation on which it was built, and exposing its crimes and fragility at the same time.
Al-Laqta adds, “The art of caricature has the elements that enable it to awaken consciences, inflame feelings, and mobilize energies to support the resistance, preach hope, and strengthen the steadfastness of our Palestinian people against the war of extermination. The symbolic image and visual art that reduces dozens of articles into simple lines is the most powerful and deserving of change.” The equation and history of the Palestinian issue in its most difficult and complex stages,” he described, praising the artistic message presented by the late cartoonist Naji Al-Ali. Honest and bold for the sake of Palestine, he was a soft force with his brush and paintings.
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— Dr. Alaa Allagta (@AlaaAllagta) December 16, 2023
As for the artist Yahya Hawwa, he does not deviate from this message, as he says: “The artist represents an important voice for the nation at historical moments. Through the artist’s creativity, he can transform events into symbols that remain for future generations, and we have heard and seen this in a large number of songs for Palestine,” and about the hope held out. To the creators, Hawwa adds: “This stems from the belief in their ability to deliver messages in an emotional and inspiring way, and the audience’s thirst and anticipation for artistic works is due to them.” It touches his conscience, and gives him hope for the future, in crucial issues that require emotional solidarity and continuous emotional drive.”
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How does the artist champion his causes?
It was necessary for us to ask our guests this question, to move on to practical models through which we would know their artistic roles, and whether the artist was capable of disturbing the occupier. In this regard, the artist Al-Badour stated that the artist’s support for his causes comes through his adherence to his principles, and combating the occupier with his pen and brush, to show the world the reality of this enemy, and to be of help to his brothers in Palestine. He added that the artist is capable of disturbing the occupier, citing the story of one of his paintings that provoked the Israeli media during the reign of Ariel Sharon and was spread in the press and television.
As for the cartoonist Alaa Al-Laqta, he says that the occupation and its huge media machine have persisted over decades of portraying the Palestinian as a backward, terrorist human being, with no civilization or history, thirsty for blood. This fine art comes to refute this narrative, because art is the elevation of the soul and a reflection of civilization. A universal language that does not need a translator. It reaches hearts without permission, penetrates into the depths, and causes an earthquake. “And a lasting impact,” he adds, regarding what disturbs the occupation: “When you fight it with a silent, soft weapon but lethal at the same time, and when you make laughter a curse against it, and when you mock its alleged strength and highlight its weaknesses, then you kill it,” as he described it.
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— Dr. Alaa Allagta (@AlaaAllagta) December 16, 2023
The artist Hawwa agreed that the presence of the national anthem and song has declined in the contemporary stage compared to what it was in previous stages of struggle. He explained that national anthems were an integral part of the Palestinian cause and were more present due to the nature of wars and media coverage in the past.
But today, with the shift in media to social media, artistic production has decreased. He added that social media platforms restrict Palestinian artistic works due to their sensitivity, and that the world has become a small village, and this means that revolutionary work in one country may be held accountable by an artist in all countries of the world.
Paths of artistic influence
Because the artistic battle is influential in consciousness, especially in times of genocide and its resistance, it was necessary to ask about the paths in which fine art can influence.
To this, the artist Baddour answers: “To show the genocide, and draw, design, and show some images that are absent with archiving, so that we restore them artistically and show them in an artistic style with translations in foreign languages in order to deliver them to the largest segment in the world. This has happened and we are still drawing, coloring, and translating daily situations and genocide.” We appeal to the global conscience through our actions and the way they are presented in a way that serves this cause.”
The artist Al-Badour stressed the importance of the value of hope in the content of artistic works, steadfastness and what the resistance does in the face of the occupier. Baddour believes that “every artist at this stage must abandon all artistic luxury, and direct his pen and brush towards Palestine at this stage, and the pen is sinful if it does not “His pen and pen serve this cause.”
As for the cartoonist Al-Laqta, he calls for strengthening steadfastness, glorifying the resistance and its men, highlighting a heroism that history has never witnessed, for example, and creating symbols that did not exist before, such as the inverted red triangle, the elegant resistance, and the watermelon fruit in its revolutionary colors. Al-Laqta emphasizes the necessity of exposing the crimes and ugliness of the occupier on the one hand, and mobilizing the nation and free people. The world is on the ground of preaching hope and the coming victory.
— Dr. Alaa Allagta (@AlaaAllagta) January 29, 2024
As for the artist Yahya Hawwa, he sees “the necessity of raising morale and strengthening steadfastness, unifying ranks and contributing to rejecting differences, conveying messages quickly and strongly to the masses, and chronicling decisive, great and influential moments and immortalizing them in the collective memory of the nation,” as he believes that it contributes greatly to mass mobilization and motivating generations. Successive participation in resistance in all its types and forms and conveying the voice of the oppressed to all parts of the world.
