Palestine youths form mural painting group
Reageer (0)
15-11-2010
A group of Palestinian youths in the West Bank formed an apolitical
art group specialized in painting murals that aim to raise cultural and
social awareness, and for free.
“On the wall” is a group of 22 members, seven females and 15 males,
hailing from different disciplinary studies to include art majors as
well as engineering and graphic design students.
Their main aim is to highlight issues that concern the Palestinian
public through painting murals on the walls of schools and institutions,
including concrete fences encircling undeveloped lands and empty lots.
We welcome all talented school and university students who are interested in mural painting
The group coordinates with human and
women rights associations through painting murals that deliver their
ideas to the people. The group does not charge money for its artwork and
only asks the institution that commissions the paintings to provide the
required tools like paints and brushes.
“On the Wall” group works on Fridays when its members don’t have
classes or are not working to pay their school tuition. The group also
does not pledge allegiance to any political group and does not paint
political issues whether related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or
inter-Palestinian divisions.
The group only focuses on social and cultural issues that raise
awareness among the people, said Heba Baghdadi, a student of
contemporary art at the Ramallah-based International Academy of Art and a
member of the group.
“We do not interfere in politics and we are not after material gain,”
she told AlArabiya.net, summarizing the group’s mission statement.
Baghdadi said that the group is expected to grow in the future.
“We welcome all talented school and university students who are interested in mural painting.”
Women rights mural
The mural shows the different forms of violence against the Palestinian woman, whether social, political or domestic
The latest of the group’s work was a
mural painted under the auspices of the Palestinian Working Woman
Society for Development (PWWSD), and aims to encouraging Palestinians
to fight all sorts of discrimination against women.
The PWWSD mural, located on the main road to occupied Jerusalem,
features an assortment of paintings that reflect the reality of
Palestinian women without words so that viewers can take their time to
reflect on the meaning of this artistic composition.
The mural aims to expose the several types of injustices to which women
are subjected, said Areej Ghannam, a member of the group and the
supervisor of the PWWSD mural.
“The mural shows the different forms of violence against the Palestinian
woman, whether social, political or domestic,” she told AlArabiya.net.
“We wanted to shed light on the rights of which she is deprived like
getting an education, having a job, and choosing a husband.”
The mural, Ghannam added, is painted in a way that alerts viewers so a
positive change can be initiated and women can be granted more rights.
“We want the Palestinian woman to get all the rights to which she is
entitled by all international charters and human rights principles,” she
concluded.
The painting of this mural coincides with the United Nations’
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which
falls on November 25 of each year.
(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid).
