Why first intifada is back on Middle East art scene
In conjunction with a new exhibition, founders of the Palestinian contemporary art scene met in Beirut to discuss how the political events of their time influenced their work.
BEIRUT — “Palestinian art has always brought the struggle for freedom and the [Israeli] occupation to the people of the world,” Vera Tamari, a multidisciplinary artist, said to Al-Monitor. “A lot of the art that came out in the 1970s and 1980s reflected this through the symbolism of the time, but there has been a change of representation in Palestinian art. It has become more authentic in many ways.”
On April 30, the Beirut-based Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture, a Palestinian cultural organization, hosted four prominent figures and founders of the Palestinian contemporary art scene — Nabil Anani, Sliman Mansour, Tayseer Barakat and Tamari — to discuss the movement. Of particular focus was how their works had changed after the first intifada, the five-year-long uprising that began in 1987, two decades into the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Golan Heights and Gaza stemming from the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
