flowers for palestine

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2024

acrylic, gouache

16”x20”

Flowers for Palestine is dedicated to Palestinian people, and to the global struggle for Palestinian human rights. To ALL people, Palestinian, Black, Mexican, Jewish, Japanese, fighting for freedom from the river to the sea. To ALL people everywhere risking it all to fight these oppressive regimes.  

In the middle there are three flowers

1. Flower of Youth
   1. Meant to invoke the idea through watercolor that youth is not fully formed, youth is still developing. Love note to the over 5 thousand Palestinian children murdered by the Israeli government in less than 50 days. 
2. Flower of the Olive Tree
   1. Dedicated to the olive trees of Palestine. The nourishment of the people. The fruits of the land and the land itself being illegally destroyed, stolen, and occupied. This part of the piece came in when the village Aunty went to Palestine to check on her land. A month after she went home, Oct 7th happened. We did not know if she would make it back to the US. 
3. Flower of Culture
   1. Inspired by a pattern often seen in a Palestinian garment called the thobe. This flower represents culture, it is an ode to life, literature, music, textile, and art in Palestine 

Around the edges you will see a fence representing the apartheid walls built by the Israeli government to isolate and control Palestinian people

The fourth side of this piece has no fence. This is because the spirit of the Palestinian people can never be contained. 

The triangle shapes represent buildings, those that remain, and those that have sustained damage from US bombs. 

And finally, the key. In Palestinian art, this key often represents the right of refugees to return home. I was shaken by this key in Suleiman Mansour’s work, Jerusalem, Palestinian Heritage.

I want these bandanas to be worn in celebration of the fight, and the fighters. A reminder to continue to mourn the dead, and fight like hell for the living. Now is not our time to relax. There is no honesty in the U.S. Government or the Israeli government. We must fight on, until ceasefire, until freedom.