Political
Yaffa Oranges are Part of Me
Acrylic on Canvas
Yaffa Oranges are Part of Me is about the deep connection between Palestinian people and the Yaffa orange, a symbol of the land and its history. This girl’s braids wrap around the oranges to show that they are inseparable from who she is.
They Caught the Fish After the Killing
Acrylic on Canvas
They Caught the Fish After the Killing is about what is left after a colonization or invasion, even after it ends. The damage done to a place does not leave when the invaders do. The fish is caught, yes, but there is too much sadness in the catching.
Sheikh Imam
Acrylic on Canvas
Sheikh Imam is a portrait of the beloved Egyptian singer who spent his life singing about injustice under the Egyptian regimes. His eyes are covered in swirls because he was blind. But blindness did not stop him from seeing what was happening around him. He saw everything in his mind.
Pulled Apart Orange
Stretched canvas
Pulled Apart Orange was done during the Arab Spring, when there was so much hope for a new Egypt and a new Arab world. That hope was pulled apart and hijacked. The fragmented forms in the painting show what that felt like.
Pulled Apart Green
Acrylic and Pen on Paper
Pulled Apart Green is also about the Arab Spring. The flowers are being pulled from their container by a force that is not visible in the painting. The mystery of that unseen hand is part of what the piece is about.
My Name is Palestine
Acrylic on Canvas
My Name is Palestine shows a confident woman with wide eyes stating her name with defiance. It is a declaration. She is not asking permission.
Iraq
Acrylic on Canvas
Iraq shows a woman with her head tilted in despair. And yet her scarf is wrapped around a cluster of flowers, a sign of hope that remains even in the sadness. The piece holds both things at once.
Been There Done That
Acrylic on Canvas
Been There Done That draws a parallel between the Palestinian experience and the history of Native American people, both of whom have had their land taken by outside forces. A seasoned Native American figure lends their support to someone going through a version of what they already know. The solidarity is the point.
Abu Gharayb
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Abu Gharayb refers to the prison in Iraq where detainees were abused by occupying forces. I wanted to record the cruelty of it and to make sure it is not forgotten. The painting is a document as much as it is a work of art.
Guantanamo
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Guantanamo shows men huddled together in despair, their faces incomplete. Some have a mouth, some have eyes, but no one has all of them. They are nameless, stripped of identity, men in orange suits on someone else’s island.
What Goes Around Comes Around
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
What Goes Around Comes Around is about the Arab Spring and the manipulation of it. The title holds the promise that justice, even when it is delayed, will come back around. Spring returns. What has been done will be accounted for.
When We Had Time to Love in Baghdad
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
When We Had Time to Love in Baghdad is about a moment before everything changed. Two figures sit together in the warmth of a geometric border that wraps around them like a sanctuary. The painting is about love and intimacy in a place that had it, and what it means to remember that.
Who is the Opressed Woman
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Who is the Oppressed Woman puts two women side by side, one veiled and one not. The question the title asks is real: which one is the oppressed one? The painting does not answer it. The chaotic background reflects the complexity of the question and challenges anyone who thinks they already know.
Wedding Planner Got Greedy
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Wedding Planner Got Greedy is a political portrait of someone who was supposed to bring people together but let ambition get the better of them. The fragmented, angular composition reflects the conflict between who they presented themselves to be and who they became. Bold reds and sharp lines show the tension at the center of the piece.
Blue in Baghdad
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Blue in Baghdad shows the city through its architecture and its color, bold blue buildings with orange palms set against them. The lit windows hint at all the lives inside, still going on. The painting holds both the richness of Baghdad’s culture and the complexity of what it has been through.
Jerusalem, Palestine
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Jerusalem, Palestine shows the city as it is: full of sacred places for three religions at once, all of them layered on top of each other. The bold colors capture the energy and the complexity of a place shaped by so many hands over so many centuries. Jerusalem belongs to this history, and to Palestine.
Pulled Cherries (Egypt, Syria, Lybia)
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Pulled Cherries shows the upheaval of the Arab Spring and what happened to Egypt, Syria, and Libya. The cherries represent these countries and they are being pulled from an unknown source. One boat overflows and the other is nearly empty, showing the uneven cost of what happened. The falling leaves add to the sense of things coming apart.
The Old Woman Knows What Happens to The Greedy, Iraq
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
The Old Woman Knows What Happens to the Greedy was done during the Iraq war. The woman in the painting has seen enough to know: this invasion is about greed, not justice. History will confirm it. Her eye holds all of that understanding.
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Anne Frank’s Cousin (2000)
Acrylic and Mixed media on Paper
Anne Frank’s Cousin refers to the children of the West Bank. A young girl in the lower right corner is the cousin of Anne Frank: she too is a Semite and she too is living through horror as a child. The soldiers in the collage are real. The prisoners wear crowns, a mark of respect for their defiance.
198 / 200
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