Art & Culture
Crafts & Folk Art
Palestinian folk art and traditional crafts, music and story-telling, dance and embroidery, architecture and stonework, are each distinctive examples of cultural production which originate in, and give voice to, the sedimented traditions, aesthetics, and narratives of the Palestinian people. These cultural forms are often regionally distinct, infused with particular methods and motifs characterising local styles and focusing on local histories. Folk art remains very important till today. Yet, the manner in which these traditional art forms are often held up as static symbols of authentic Palestinian cultural identity overshadows the way these traditional forms are also being creatively redefined by a new generation of Palestinian artists and contemporary dance troupes.
Among Palestinian folk arts, the Dabka stands out as an important folk dance that has become a performative means of expressing Palestinian national identity, and has also been innovatively incorporated into Palestinian modern expressional dance, most notably by El-Funoun the Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe. Embroidery – handmade thoub (a full-length traditional women’s dress), shawls, and wall-hangings normally embroidered in ‘cottage industry’ scale village looms or individual homes, consist of expressive colours and patterns that are each associated with the particular village or district and its local history. The hakawati (story-telling) is a form of oral history transmission and entertainment sometimes accompanied by music, and incorporating history, fantasy, romance, adventure, and comedy elements. These folk arts have, over time, become key foci in practices of remembrance, yearning, and honouring of the pre-Nakba social world of Palestine. Their enduring popularity attests to their role in strengthening the Palestinian identity and contributing to popular culture of resistance in geographically dispersed Palestinian communities, whether amongst the Palestinian refugees, citizens of Israel, or residents of the West Bank and Gaza.
Literature
Palestinian literary accomplishments are well known and considerable in the Arab world. In the decades following the Nakba Palestinian intellectuals and poets made tremendous literary contributions to the Palestinian liberation struggle, both supporting a burgeoning resistance culture and creating a body of Palestinian national literature and poetry that now transcends borders and elevates the tragedies of the Palestinian dispossession to universal level of the human condition, exposing the realities of injustice, oppression and the defiant pursuit of freedom. Among the Palestinian revolutionary intellectuals, Ghassan Kanafani stands out as one of the most important writers of Palestinian fiction. His short stories, which have been translated globally, embody and convey the revolutionary imaginary of the Palestinian left. Kanafani was the spokesperson and leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation until he was assassinated in 1972 by Israeli Mossad. Other influential leftist writers who combined political activism with literary success include the novelist Emile Habibi and poets Samih al-Qasim and Tawfiq Zayyad. In 1966, Ghassan Kanafani used the term adab al muqawami, which means the literature of resistance, to describe and draw attention to the emerging body of resistance poetry and prose being produced by Palestinians inside of what had become Israel. Indeed, in the 1960’s and 70’s Palestinians who escaped ethnic cleansing of Palestine, such as Mahmoud Darwish, Tawfiq Zayyad and Samih al-Qasim had inaugurated a new body of resistance literature, which embodied by spirit of resolute defiance and a refusal to be silenced, as exemplified in Darwish’s famous poem “Record, I am an Arab.”
Palestinian academic writers, whether the important early analyst of Arab politics George Antonius, the historian Walid Khalidi or the acclaimed critical theorist Edward Said, have been central figures in shaping knowledges and understandings, not only about Palestine, but also of Arab, Islamic, Middle Eastern, as well as formidably shaping our understanding of colonial discourse, representation as well as contemporary politics and histories. They have left an indelible mark on the intellectual world we inhabit today.
Poets, particularly the famous ‘national poet’ of Palestine, Mahmoud Darwish, continue to occupy a position of immense respect and popularity amongst Palestinians, while enjoying critical acclaim worldwide. Today, Palestinian writers enjoying local and international success include novelists Mourid Barghouti (I Saw Ramallah), and Suad Amiry (Sharon and my Mother-in-Law), as well as the prolific poet and translator Anton Shammas (Imprisoned in my Own Awakening and Sleep).
Film
Palestinian filmmaking began in earnest within the cultural, political, and artistic revolutions of the late 1960s. Early productions came out of the PLO’s own film unit, with directors such as Mustafa Abu-Ali covering the revolutionaries and their activities, while working alongside influential figures from the French scene including Godard and Melville. These early political works sought to contribute not only to the Palestinian liberation struggle, but to a political-aesthetic revolution being undertaken globally by a handful of engaged and inspired filmmakers, and so represented an important channel of artistic communication between the Palestinian revolution and elements of the art world. Palestinian filmmakers rapidly became targets for assassination by Israel, and the effort to establish a film archive in Beirut was brought to an end when Israeli forces targeted and confiscated the PLO national archive during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. After a hiatus, wherein little Palestinian film production was possible, a ‘new wave’ of Palestinian cinema began to emerge in the 1980s with the narrative fiction works of a handful of directors including Michel Khleifi. From that point onwards, Palestinian documentary, video-art, fiction, and experimental filmmaking has gradually grown to become one of today’s most exciting arenas in contemporary Palestinian art. The dispersion and exile of Palestinians since the Nakba means current Palestinian filmmakers bring together a variety of influences and operate in very different environments. However, the continuation of the Israeli colonial occupation has meant that Palestinian filmmakers working in the West Bank and Gaza continue to suffer from a lack of basic facilities, trained technicians, and the necessary freedoms of movement for a full local film industry to develop.
Film
Palestinian filmmaking began in earnest within the cultural, political, and artistic revolutions of the late 1960s. Early productions came out of the PLO’s own film unit, with directors such as Mustafa Abu-Ali covering the revolutionaries and their activities, while working alongside influential figures from the French scene including Godard and Melville. These early political works sought to contribute not only to the Palestinian liberation struggle, but to a political-aesthetic revolution being undertaken globally by a handful of engaged and inspired filmmakers, and so represented an important channel of artistic communication between the Palestinian revolution and elements of the art world. Palestinian filmmakers rapidly became targets for assassination by Israel, and the effort to establish a film archive in Beirut was brought to an end when Israeli forces targeted and confiscated the PLO national archive during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. After a hiatus, wherein little Palestinian film production was possible, a ‘new wave’ of Palestinian cinema began to emerge in the 1980s with the narrative fiction works of a handful of directors including Michel Khleifi. From that point onwards, Palestinian documentary, video-art, fiction, and experimental filmmaking has gradually grown to become one of today’s most exciting arenas in contemporary Palestinian art. The dispersion and exile of Palestinians since the Nakba means current Palestinian filmmakers bring together a variety of influences and operate in very different environments. However, the continuation of the Israeli colonial occupation has meant that Palestinian filmmakers working in the West Bank and Gaza continue to suffer from a lack of basic facilities, trained technicians, and the necessary freedoms of movement for a full local film industry to develop.
Visual Art
Visual art in Palestine is sometimes said to have begun in the 1940s with schools of painting, studio photography, and engraving; others argue that it should be traced back further – to iconography and folk crafts. What is clear is that in the conditions of fragmentation, uprootment, silencing after the Nakba of 1948, Palestinian artists have claimed a space to narrate Palestinian experiences, explore realities of dispossession – claiming a space to imagine not only what was, what is, but also what can and what should be, giving voice to Palestinian ideals and aspirations. Prominent figures linked directly to the Palestinian liberation struggle include the legendary Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, a refugee whose fierce political independence and satirical style led both to his enormous popularity amongst Palestinians and to his assassination in London in 1987. Prominent exiled artists of a subsequent generation have included the Turner Prize nominated UK-based artist Mona Hatoum, whose striking video and installation art examines memory, belonging and the self in exile, has been at the forefront of contemporary art globally for well over a decade. In Palestine, painters and sculptors such as Jerusalemite Suleiman Mansour have been influential since the 1960s, working with mixed media and exploring intersections between cultural heritage and contemporary methods, visually representing the Palestinian narrative and the struggle, and moving beyond this, infusing and incorporating new material such as clay and mud into his art work. Visual arts institutions and education within the West Bank and Gaza are growing, with a proliferation of NGO-linked initiatives since the early 1990s now centred in the Ramallah-Jerusalem area, which now include the International Academy of Art Palestine. Visual artists from within Palestine, including citizens of Israel, and across the Diaspora have continued to expand their presence and win acclaim globally. A new generation of young visual artists, led by a number of extremely talented young female artists, have played a critical leading role in expanding Palestinian art into new creative mediums - exploring and critically transforming realms such as installation art.