Art is an imitation of the struggles in the life of humanity that is expressed in various forms and media. That art is always subject to different interpretations sometimes or most of the time makes it controversial. Some of the most common topics that are often found too controversial by some people include religion, gender orientation, and war.
The previous exhibit of Rehab Nazzal entitled Invisible at the Karsh-Masson Gallery in Ottawa, Canada created a hullabaloo among the Palestinian and Israeli community in Canada. Israeli ambassador Rafael Barak expressed his disdain upon seeing the image of Palestinian prisoners in the prisons of Israel and other art pieces that depicts the Israeli as terrorist in the West Bank and Gaza. Such expressed of disdain also provoked the Palestenian General Delegation in Ottawa. But, the conflicts between these people and their nations are long standing.
Conflicts between two nations could be traced back to the biblical times especially the most infamous war that persists for over ninety years between Palestine and Israel. Thousands of innocent lives are lost every year that escape the notice of the government of both countries. Some of the issues that have not been laid to rest involve territorial disputes to include the settlement in West Bank and Gaza. Reports from civil rights organizations indicated that more than 83% of the Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces during their military efforts were mostly civilians and not the claimed alleged terrorist groups. Several testimonies also put emphasis on the fact that Israeli soldiers have no regard for civilian life suggesting that these soldiers do not see a clear distinction between making precautions to kill civilians and killing the resisting forces of the Palestine. Some Israeli soldiers even testified that at the time of war, they destroy hundreds of houses and mosque, fire phosphorus gas in areas populated with non-combatant civilians, kill innocent victims with small arms, destroy private properties, and encourage shooting anywhere for no reasons and without a directive coming from the head of their troops.
As the years go by, the conflict between Israel and Palestine grows more and more. In the Arabic language, the word intifada literally means “resistance.” The First Intifada on 1987-1993 has lead to the division of two states that were later called the Israel and Palestine communities. Palestinians acknowledged Israel as an independent state while Israel still aims to gain control over the disputed territories. Women played a center role in the process of peace keeping. The negotiation was mediated by intellectuals from the Palestinial Liberation movement. While both Israel and Palestine promised there will not be any settlements in the strip of Gaza and West Bank, and violence will be ended respectively, both countries broke their promises leading to the Second Intifada. However, during the Second Intifada in the year 2000-2005, suicide bombings and violence from different sectors of both parties continued thereby claiming thousands of innocent lives replaced the intellectuals who were part of the peace-keeping process and the situation continues to get worse. Just recently, Israel has declared a war against the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Being born in the middle of two states at loggerheads, it is not surprising that Rehab Nazzal’s art showcases different facets of war as the central theme in most of her works. Like many other Palestinians, Nazzal has also experienced the terror of military occupations and economic hardships. She worked with Palestinian refugees and prisoner’s families after being denied to return to the West Bank and these people that she meets in the refugees served as her inspiration in her works. She kept records of the experiences of her family and her fellow citizens. Her art has become the gateway to share the world about fear, suffering, resistance and resilience. Nazzal has showcased her works on the impact of novel war ammunitions on civilian.
In this new exhibit entitled “Visible” at the Art Gallery of Missisauga in Africa, Nazzal once again focuses on heart rending subject matters about war. This time, she explores the idea of war as a modern surveillance and its aftermath. She aims to capture the attention of her viewers and get them acquainted about the current technologies in war, and how such technology has annihilated residential homes, sacred grounds such as mosque, infrastructures and the environment.
As expected, Nazzal’s exhibit may create uproar to the Israeli community leading to a provocation of the Palestine community against Israel. However, there should be no reason on Israel’s side to be upset about Nazzal’s exhibit if the central theme does not evolve to the atrocities of Israeli soldiers to Palestine prisoners and instead focuses on the impact of technology in developing warfare to the people. Nazzal’s work reveals the ugly truth about war in the Middle East and how technological advancements exacerbate the situation. Her work is strongly indicates how war has made human lives very cheap. That is; it is very easy to take a life of a civilian using modern technological warfare. The citizens of Missasauga are going be enlightened because war is everybody’s issue. It exists not only in the Middle East but all over the world.
References
Al-Haq. (2009). 'Operation Cast Lead': A Statistical Analysis. Al-Haq. Retrieved from: http://www.icawc.net/fonds/Gaza-operation-Cast-Lead_statistical-analysis%20by%20Al%20Haq_August%202009.pdf.
Daigle, C. (20 June 2014). Rehab Nazzal: Making the Invisible Visible. MuslimLink. Retrieved from: http://muslimlink.ca/arts/artist-profiles/rehab-nazzal-making-the-invisible-visible.
Smith, C. D. (2004). Palestine and Arab-Israeli Conflict. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins.
Smith, D. M. (1 June 2014). Palestinian Artist Rehab Nazzal Talks to Crowd about Controversial Exhibit, Artistic Freedom. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved from: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/palestinian-artist-rehab-nazzal-talks-to-crowd-about-controversial-exhibit-artistic-freedom.
The Art Gallery of Missisauga. Visible. Missisauga, ON: The Art Gallery of Missisauga. Retrieved from: http://www.artgalleryofmississauga.com/.
