7 days ago
India's biggest Palestine art exhibition exposes life under Israeli occupation
NEW DELHI: From paintings and photographs to graffiti and posters, one of India's biggest-ever showcases of Palestine-related art is now on view in central New Delhi, featuring works by Indian and Palestinian artists that highlight life under Israeli occupation.
'The Body Called Palestine' exhibition at Jawahar Bhawan — next to key government institutions —is a month-long show that will run until May 31.
Organized by the art collective Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, it features 140 works focusing on themes of resistance, identity and solidarity with Palestine. Some 40 of the contributing artists are Palestinians, 30 are Indians, and others come from places such as the US, Poland, Egypt and Sweden.
''The Body Called Palestine'' is the largest-ever exhibition in India on Palestine,' Amit Mukhopadhyay, the art historian who curated the show, told Arab News.
'(It is) the largest in terms of size, in terms of the number of works, in terms of the number of artists.'
Among the displayed works is 'Searching for Life' by Sliman Mansour, a leading figure among contemporary Palestinian artists. Painted in 2024, it shows three women carefully brushing through the rubble. They are surrounded by destruction and fire in the background — evoking the Gaza Strip, where in the past 19 months Israeli forces have killed tens of thousands of people and reduced much of the region's cities to rubble.
'The Wave,' by sculptor Abdul Rahman Katanani, is a 3-meter-high wave made from barbed wire, representing the Gaza Sea.
'Homes for The Disembodied,' an installation by Mary Tuma, shows five flowing black dresses made from one piece of chiffon — a memorial to the Palestinians displaced from Jerusalem who were unable to return to their homes before their death.
'Palestinian artists display the violence of life under occupation and subjugatory difference. The nostalgia and the desire to return to their homeland, the human emotions of alienation, loss, grief, anger, all are reflected in their artistic language and practice,' Mukhopadhyay says in his curator's note for the exhibition.
'This expression and language of art may not be similar to any previously existing language system of the world.'
Many of the participating Palestinian artists were only able to submit their work digitally.
'Their houses and their residential areas and their villages are constantly being bombed ... It was impossible for them to send their physical works to us,' trust member Suhail Hashmi told Arab News.
It did not deter the organizers from displaying them. SAHMAT has prepared huge printouts to present them properly and include as many voices as possible.
'The world has to know, and people in India have to know, the great injustice that is being done to the Palestinian people — how barbaric this continuous, ongoing onslaught on unarmed people is,' Hashmi said.
'When we were fighting for our freedom, people all over the world supported our struggle. It is important for us to support anybody, anywhere in the world, fighting for freedom and the right to live peacefully. And the more people know what is going on, there will be at least some reaction.'
Vijendra Vij, an Indian artist who has contributed to the exhibition, based his work on the Palestinian poetry of Taha Muhammad Ali, Khaled Juma, Ghassan Zaqtan and others who have been translated into Hindi.
'When I read the poetry of all these poets, they recall the people, places and experience of left-behind homes, trees, fruits, flowers, the earth, the sea, the sky, colors and scents. Even after decades of hard work and attainment of comfort and professional success, the enduring connection to Palestine remains unbroken. That is behind the inspiration of (my) work,' he said.
The works have generally received emotional responses, with fear and anger followed by thoughtful observation.
'If you look at some of the works that are quite graphic, you see a bit of fear, you fear for yourself, and you also feel extremely despondent about how people are actually going through those situations,' said Saurabh Wasan, an art manager in Delhi.
'Exhibitions like this are very important and very much needed ... in whatever small way, we're kind of keeping their voices going. Their voices are still being heard.'
