The Use of Figuration and Narrative Structures in the Work of Three Pro-Palestinian Artists
Jonathan Haojaq Kho
PUFY 1011-D02 CRN 5218: Visual Culture Seminar
Ruth Eisenberg
May 12th 2015
1
This paper aims to explore the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it stimulated the arts where artists are
motivated to form clubs, join other unions of Palestinian artists.1 During “al-Nakba” in 1948, Palestinians
were driven out of their home in Palestine mostly to neighboring countries in fear of another massacre by
Zionist militia2: Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. In Gaza, the Israeli occupiers banned any form of media,
therefore people often communicate by graffiti often at the dividing wall of Israel and Palestine.3 The
handwriting in graffiti is often quick and spontaneous.4 To them, graffiti as a form of art is the closest
form of communication.5 With this in mind, this paper aims to explore artists and their artistic approaches
towards the conflict. The three artists that are used in this discussion are: Samia Halaby, Laila Shawa and
JR. Two of them are of Palestinian descent and are currently residing overseas away from the Middle East
and one of the artist is a French artist that had one of his projects dedicated to similar topics. By choosing
two Palestinian artists, one traditional and one contemporary, along with a foreign (French) artist,
contributes to the diversity and objectivity of this research. All three artists aim to raise awareness of the
brutality that is happening in West Bank and Gaza as they are the only hope of communicating to
international audience since communication is harshly monitored and often banned by Israeli occupiers.6
Artists have used a variety of figurative and narrative strategies to raise awareness of and sympathy for
the oppression and suffering of the Palestinian people.
1
Amelia Smith, “Veteran Palestinian Artist Samia Halaby Speaks to MEMO on Palestinian Art and
Activism,” MEMO Middle Eastern Monitors, October 9, 2013,
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/7752-veteran-palestinian-artist-samia-halaby-speaks-tomemo-on-palestinian-art-and-activism
2
David McDowall and Claire Palley, “Minority Rights Group Report,” May 3, 2015,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus#cite_note-2
3
Laila Shawa, "The Political Is Personal an Interview with Palestinian Artist Laila Shawa," Muslima,
http://muslima.imow.org/content/political-personal
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
2
Samia Halaby is a Palestinian artist who was driven out of Palestine into Lebanon after the 1948 Arab7
Israeli War. She then later moved to America and settled in New York. According to Halaby, “the
experience of being evicted from Palestine and losing everything was a very painful one. [Her] father was
affluent when [they] were evicted from Palestine, so [she] won’t say [she] suffered hunger or pain or not
having a roof over [her] head, like the refugees, but nevertheless, there’s a lot of emotional stress. There’s
a deep pain in every Palestinian about it.”8 Perhaps this was the motivation behind her art practice.
“The Ninth Wave of Killing” by Samia Halaby, part of her Kafr Qasem Massacre series, 1999.
7
Samia Halaby, “Five Decades of Painting and Innovation: An Interview with Samia Halaby,” Jadaliyya,
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/21229/five-decades-of-painting-and-innovation_an-intervin
8
Erica Schwiegershausen and Samia Halaby, "Q&A: Samia Halaby on Painting and Palestine,” The Cut,
http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/01/qa-samia-halaby-on-painting-and-palestine.html
3
Her works “The Ninth Wave of Killing” and “Muhammad Habib Musarwa”, both part of her Kafr Qasem
Massacre series (1999), represent the Israeli atrocities during the Palestinian exodus. For “The Ninth
9
Wave of Killing”, or as some call it, “The Dance of Death” , Halaby describes through the rough and
busy curved line the moment when “sixteen women were shot over and over again until only one
survived. The sole survivor was in the center of the big hug that the women created as they were being
shot.”
10
Her drawings are figurative and the dynamic sketch quality gives the image movement,
enhancing the rotary movements of the nine victims. The use of figuration on the artwork gives life and
movement to the work and thus presents a more dynamic image, perhaps Halaby’s attempt was to have
the audience image the scene as it happened. Her work here could be argued that it provides a deeper
connection to the audience as opposed to an abstract approach, where the art is considered as only have
aesthetic and material connectivity and nothing beyond that.11 This is because audiences first identify the
subject matter in the artwork as a first step in comprehending the visual image, where in this case the
subject matter is the Israeli atrocities against armless Palestinian villagers.12 When the audience is able to
visually comprehend and decipher the image, it creates closure and triggers the pleasure areas in the brain.
After that, meaning is created by the audience’s self-accessed memory by associating the viewed image to
personal experiences.
13
With the facial depictions (figurative approach), it makes it personal with the
audiences as facial features are what connects a person to another, triggering emotions and sympathy as it
makes it relatable for the audience to experience what is depicted in the image.14 “Human facial
expressions are designed to arouse reactions from others. The early work of Darwin indicated that people
all over the world both express and perceive facial expression in similar ways. These early observations
were conﬁrmed recently by Paul Ekman, Ph.D., of the University of California Medical School at San
9
Maymanah Farhat, “Three Arab Painters in New York” to Open in New York City,” The Electronic
Intifada, May 31, 2006, http://electronicintifada.net/content/three-arab-painters-new-york-open-new-york-city/5991
10
Ibid.
11
Tsion Avital, "Figurative Art Versus Abstract Art: Levels of Connectivity," 1997
12
Ann Marie Barry, “Perceptual Aesthetics: Transcendent Emotion, neurological Image,” Visual
Communication Quarterly, 2006
13
Ibid.
14
Ibid.
4
Francisco, who enlarged Darwin’s observations, using more sophisticated methods. Traveling to exotic
locations such as Papua New Guinea where the residents had little contact with outsiders, Ekman showed
the natives photographs of people expressing anger, happiness, disgust, surprise, sadness, and fear and
asked them to say what emotion was being expressed. He found wide general agreement in the emotions
identiﬁed, which he interpreted as meaning “our evolution gives us universal expressions, which tell
others some important information about us.” In these universal signals we are able to read another’s
emotions, attitudes, and truthfulness.”15 Therefore, in the context of Halaby’s artwork, or in this case any
of the three artists’ artworks, audiences read the faces in the artwork, understanding their condition and
thus reacting to it, which in this case the reaction may most likely be sympathetic and/or understanding.
“Muhammad Habib Musarwa,” by Samia Halaby, part of her Kafr Qasem Massacre series, 1999.
15
Robert L. Solso, “About Faces, in Art and in the Brain,” The Dana Foundation, July 1, 2004,
http://dana.org/Cerebrum/2004/About_Faces,_in_Art_and_in_the_Brain/
5
Halaby’s second work “Muhammad Habib Musarwa” is a drawing of a Kafr Qassem man “Muhammad
Habib Musarwa”. The work depicts him just after the moment he was shot to death after heading
to the location an earlier massacre.16
The image shows his body dangling on the fence
motionlessly. Halaby was able to accurately recreate the scene by interviewing people around the
area.17 By creating the image of the scene, Halaby is able to tell their stories due to the advantage
of her living in a first world country which allowed her to accomplish her goal of revealing the
untold and hidden brutality of the Kafr Qasem massacre through having her works displayed and
kept by Arab gallery/communities.18 Despite the possible lack of knowledge by foreign
audiences regarding the specificities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war atrocities that
have happened throughout it, the image itself is visually descriptive and detailed, given the heavy
movement depicted in her work that replays the moment of the massacre, to be an explicit and
emotionally evoking piece that perhaps have the audience question of the backstory of the
artwork. The image constitutes vigorous sketches of the corpses on the ground with strong detail
focused on Musarwa’s facial depiction given the dark and thick contours and his posture
suspending from the wire. With such an image, regardless of the person’s race, nationality of
background, perhaps what concerns the audience at this point is not about justifying the killing of
Musarwa, but rather whether it is morally acceptable to do so.
16
Maymanah Farhat, “Three Arab Painters in New York” to Open in New York City,” The Electronic
Intifada, May 31, 2006, http://electronicintifada.net/content/three-arab-painters-new-york-open-new-york-city/5991
17
Ibid.
18
Amelia Smith, “Veteran Palestinian Artist Samia Halaby Speaks to MEMO on Palestinian Art and
Activism,” MEMO Middle Eastern Monitors, October 9, 2013,
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/7752-veteran-palestinian-artist-samia-halaby-speaks-tomemo-on-palestinian-art-and-activism
6
Another Palestinian artist, Laila Shawa, her works have a “heightened sense of realism and
targets injustice and persecution wherever their roots may be.”19 Shawa’s inspiration comes from
her photographs of the wall that divides Israel and Gaza, which she then later further manipulate
them and turned into silkscreens.20 The Arabic messages embedded in her work are mostly heartrending messages of hope and resistance spray-painted, in defiance of Israeli censorship.21
Shawa’s works function as a resistance towards Israeli operations on Palestinian land. For
example, her motivation of her work Gaza III stems from the Israeli airstrikes in 2009 where
majority of children were the victims.
Unlike Halaby who tends to shy away from Palestine and political issues regarding the conflict,
in other words, Halaby’s theme in her work is not about the Arab-Israeli conflict. On the other
hand, Shawa’s aim “is to reflect the political realities of her country, becoming, in the process, a
chronicler of events.”22 Moreover, Shawa’s works are more contemporary and less traditional as
they involve more contemporary mediums such as photography and silkscreen printing.
19
20
21
22
“Laila Shawa.” October Gallery, March 30, 2015, http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/artists/shawa/
Ibid.
Ibid.
“Laila Shawa.” October Gallery, March 30, 2015, http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/artists/shawa/
7
Children of War, Children of Peace, Silkscreen on Canvas (two parts),1996, 235 x 200 cm, Edition of 3, British
Museum and private collection
In her silk screen work “Children of War, Children of Peace”, she have created two sets of prints,
both showing the same with a young boy holding a stick from Sheikh Radwan refugee camp in
Gaza, the only difference is that one is brighter in comparison to the other in terms of color.
According to Shawa, her intention is to depict the unchanged lives of children in Gaza while the
bright graffiti is meant to suggest a false sense of hope in a reality in which children of Gaza are
8
living a deprived life.”23 Although children can be associated with innocence and new life.
However, the children in Shawa’s images garners pity and sympathy towards the children of
Gaza. Furthermore, by highlighting false optimism and contrasting it with hopeless reality, she
argues that hope is not enough for the victims of war. Reality remains the same unless one side
in a conflict takes charge in resolving the issue with consideration of the opposing party’s needs,
or perhaps both side acknowledging the issue and coming to a resolution. By demonstrating such
bleak reality perhaps leads the audience to be aware of the children in need, perhaps to persuade
the people who have a biased view of the overall conflict, to have a greater understanding of the
Palestinian experience.
23
“Laila Shawa (Palestine-UK), Children of War, Children of Peace, Silkscreen on Canvas in Two Parts,”
The British Museum,
https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/museum_and_exhibition/word_into_art/laila_shawa_palestineuk,_ch.aspx
9
28 Millimeters, Face2Face. Holy Tryptich, 2006
JR is a French artist whereby his real name is still yet unknown. His work “Face 2 Face” (2007)
was part of his 28mm photography project. In “Face 2 Face”, JR sought to investigate the reason
behind Israel and Palestine’s inability to achieve peace.24 While spending time in both Palestine
and Israel, JR discovered the vast similarities between both nations.25 He concluded that “these
people look the same; they speak almost the same language, like twin brothers raised in different
families. A religious covered woman has her twin sister on the other side. A farmer, a taxi driver,
24
25
JR. “FACE 2 FACE”, 2007, http://www.jr-art.net/projects/face-2-face
Ibid.
10
a teacher, has his twin brother in front of him. And he is endlessly fighting with him.”26 JR’s
goal is clear, “[he is] in favour of a solution in which two countries, Israel and Palestine would
live peacefully within safe and internationally recognized borders. All the bilateral peace projects
(Clinton/Taba, Ayalon/Nusseibeh, Geneva Agreements) are converging into the same
direction.”27 JR’s project involves “posting them face to face, in huge formats, in unavoidable
places, on both Israeli and Palestinian sides. We want, at last, everyone to laugh and to think by
seeing the portrait of the other and his own portrait.”28 One of the participants in JR’s video
documentary mentioned his thoughts and perspective about the project, saying how if humans
are made with the image of God, regardless of any religion, a person’s face reflects God, and
people should respect each other in that manner.29 By having large faces plastered on walls, JR’s
figurative approach is effective as it is largely scaled up and it’s placed in unavoidable places,
prompting people to look at it. This forceful and direct approach achieves JR’s goal of having
both sides to stop avoiding each other and start admitting that, regardless of nationality or
religion, they are still human and are worthy of respect. In JR’s case, he does not aim to help
Palestinians achieve understanding by the outside world, but rather take part in dealing with the
conflict by having his artwork displayed right at the borders of both nations and within areas of
Israel and Palestine. His works do not necessarily trigger sympathy, however, they do promote a
greater understanding and respect between the two.
It is evident through the works of Samia Halaby, Laila Shawa and JR that their figurative
approaches do aim to achieve sympathy and understanding from their audiences towards
26
Ibid.
Ibid.
28
Ibid.
29
Ibid.
27
11
Palestinians within the conflict. With regards to Samia Halaby and Laila Shawa, both of
Palestinian descent, their works are effective as it covers both traditional and contemporary
aspect of art, and to a certain extent, reaching out to a wider range of audiences with access to
the media involved in the artwork. Moreover, both artists stem their works from their personal
experience and interviews with Palestinians back in their home town. In contrast to Halaby and
Laila, JR's works directly addresses the issues towards the parties involved in the conflict as
opposed to seeking help and gaining sympathy and understanding from the outside world.
However, it could also be argued that he presents his works through his website which extends
his artwork beyond the Middle East. All artists’ figurative approaches are evident in the sense
that they involve the use of recognizable and relatable human features, such as the face. Such
approach also illustrates a narrative, in this context, meaning the story behind the artwork, that
the artist aim to demonstrate to the audience. This enhances the connection between the work
and the audience emotionally, evoking sympathy and understanding towards the Palestinian
experience.
12
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13
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