Eleven murals for Gaza painted across the world in solidarity and protest

Maan Jalal

Since Israel launched its retaliatory attack on Gaza in October 2023, calls to end the ensuing devastation in the enclave have grown around the world with each passing day, week and month.

From university students to general public, many have taken to the streets demanding a ceasefire.

Artists, too, have been creating work to represent their support for the cause. Named and unnamed artists have expressed their thoughts through public murals, works that depict the devastating toll on human lives and powerful messages of peace and solidarity with the victims.

Here are 11 examples from around the world.

Heroes of Palestine in London, UK

In January, a London-based street mural project entitled Heroes of Palestine was launched by Creative Debuts, a platform that provides opportunities for emerging artists.

It aims to raise awareness of the journalists and medical professionals risking their lives in Gaza. Four large murals painted in the borough of Tower Hamlets were produced.

The portraits include those of Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza; Palestinian journalist and the bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Gaza city, Wael Dahdouh; Palestinian journalist and poet Plestia Alaqad; and Palestinian journalists Bisan Owda, Hind Khoudary and Doaa Al-Baz.

There is also a portrait of Mohammed Harara, one of the last remaining doctors at Nasser Hospital when it was raided by Israeli forces.

Murals for Palestine in Cairo, Egypt

In December last year, Egyptian artist Mohamed Moataz began decorating one of Egypt’s oldest areas with art.

Moataz painted four murals around the 1,000-year-old Al-Khalifa neighbourhood in Cairo. They include a wall depicting Al Aqsa Mosque, the gold-domed Islamic shrine in Jerusalem, while the Palestinian flag stands erect behind it with the words “Save Gaza” and “Free Palestine.”

Another mural depicts an illustration of a raised fist painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag. On the side of another building, Moataz has drawn the recognisable shape of Palestine on the map, against a red and lime green background. Inside its borders an eye stares out, framed by the patterns of the Palestinian keffiyeh.

Moataz’s fourth mural is the Palestinian flag more than two metres in height on the outer corner of a building.

Walls Will Speak in Cape Town, South Africa

Bo-Kaap, is a former racially segregated area in Cape Town, South Africa that has seen a number of murals, one covering a whole apartment block.

They are part of a campaign started by Obeidullah Gierdien, a nurse who started the Murals for Gaza project in Cape Town. He told a local South African news station that he believes that murals are longer lasting forms of protest.

The most striking is the Palestinian flag painted over a while apartment block. Smaller versions in the area include the words “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” along with illustrations of young Palestinians fighting tanks with rocks.

Motaz Azaiza mural in Manchester, UK

Manchester-based graffiti artist Akse P19, created a mural of Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza from Gaza on a wall in Burnage, an area in the south of the city.

Azaiza grew a large following on social media after his continuous and extensive reporting on what was happening in Gaza. Akse P19 wrote on a post on his Instagram account that the mural the is “dedicated to all journalists reporting from Gaza.”

Belfast’s International Wall in Northern Ireland

Belfast’s International Wall in Northern Ireland is a long stretch of murals highlighting significant events and often attracts tourists.

In March, a group of artists transformed the wall to showcase their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The murals include images of children who were killed in Gaza soaring in the sky with large wings; illustrations of buildings; an arm in dressed in the Palestinian flag; and an arm dressed in the Irish flag intertwined along with other images of solidarity between the both sets of people and cultures.

No Funds for Genocide mural in Seattle, USA

The Jewish Voice for Peace organisation created a large street mural as part of their protest, blocking traffic outside the Federal Building and demanding that Senator Patty Murray oppose further military aid to Israel.

The protest took place during Passover Seder, according to social media reports, with the organisation posting on its Instagram account that it is “calling for the liberation of Palestinians. Our seder plates are empty while Gaza is starving.”

The organisation later posted on Instagram that the Seattle Department of Transportation painted over the words that read, “No funds for genocide / Let Gaza Live.”

The government department cited that “harmful chemicals” were used on the mural, despite Jewish Voice for Peace posting that they have used environmentally-friendly paints.

Emmalene Blake’s mural in Dublin, Ireland

Dublin-based street artist Emmalene Blake’s work is often focused on human rights and equality.

In November, she created a mural on the outer wall of a pub in Dublin of a woman cradling a dead child wrapped in a Palestinian flag.

It was based on a photo of freelance journalist Samia al-Atrash, who is still lives in her hometown of Rafah in southern Gaza. Her whole family, except for her brother and grandmother, were killed in an air strike and in the photo she cradles her two-year-old niece Masa.

Since the mural’s creation, al-Atrash and Blake have connected over Instagram and started fund-raising together, selling prints of Blake’s mural.

Blake also created a new two-storey-high mural to honour al-Atrash’s niece. This time, Masa is seen happy and laughing against a pink backdrop.

Washington mural by Joel Bergner, USA

Artist Joel Bergner collaborated with Palestinian calligraphy artist Ahmad Ghassab for this mural.

Painted near the Howard Theater in the capital, it depicts the portraits of three children against the Palestinian flag and a poem in Arabic which translates to “Look, O’ freedom, At these Forgotten tears of joy, Dear to you and me, This long-awaited for victory.”

Four Murals in Barcelona, Spain

Five artists in Barcelona came together in February to paint four walls in solidarity, organised by the urban art centre B-Murals.

Each of the four walls represents one colour of the Palestinian flag and each image is inspired by the work of different photojournalists from Gaza.

The green wall was painted by Nadia Jaber and Juan Kantor, referencing the photograph by Majdi Fathi, depicting a Palestinian woman burying a child. The white wall depicts a father cradling his dead infant painted by Jaume Montserrat from a photograph by Belal Khaled.

The red wall depicts another woman holding a dead child painted by Sigrid Amores from a photograph by Ali Jadallah and the black wall was painted by Edmundo Garcia from a photograph by Mahmoud Bassam, and shows dead bodies shrouded in white.

Mural for Gaza in Nairobi, Kenya

In March, a group of artists in Kenya painted a mural that depicts a hand in the gesture of an upright fist, the symbol for resistance. It is holding the Palestinian flag, a reoccurring motif in the piece.

Mural in Caracas, Venezuela

This mural in the city of Caracas in Venezuela depicts children wearing parts of the Palestinian flag and the Palestinian Keffiyeh planting a tree with a dove on it. Behind them the Venezuelan flag transitions into the Palestinian flag.

Courtesy: thenationalnews