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I first encountered Sliman Mansour, whose work painting the every day and historic struggles of the Palestinian individuals, final yr at Artwork Cairo within the pharaonic enormity of the Grand Egyptian Museum. The occasion introduced collectively a few of the most acclaimed painters, photographers, graffiti artists, and different creatives from throughout the Center East. Mansour, who has famously helped to form the up to date artwork of Palestine for over half a century, was taking part in a dialogue about censorship and violence in opposition to artists and journalists.
At the moment, Mansour’s panel was contemplating the problem of future assaults on artists by means of the lens of those who had already occurred. Initially soft-spoken, his tone turned fiery in response to a different panellist who steered that artists ought to toe the road in response to governmental censorship as a result of one couldn’t produce artwork if imprisoned or useless. This was unacceptable to Mansour, who asserted that it was the job of the artist to create artwork truthfully whatever the penalties.
Once I spoke with Mansour virtually precisely one yr later in January 2024, for Palestinians the matter was as soon as once more not historic or hypothetical, however all too current: The variety of journalists and artists killed was persevering with to skyrocket amid the newest eruption of violence.
“I’m unhappy and offended,” Mansour informed me once I requested him concerning the excessive price of journalist casualties. “But it surely suits the considering of the Israelis. For them, the narrative is essential. And who tells the narrative — it needs to be them solely, as a result of that’s the reality for them. Anyone who speaks one other narrative needs to be put in jail. Or now they’re killed.”
Mansour spoke with me through Zoom from his dwelling in Jerusalem, with the tip to the violence nowhere in sight. He smiled amicably all through our discuss, however his eyes had been unhappy and he appeared considerably drained.
Once I requested him concerning the environment in Jerusalem, he thought-about the query for a number of lengthy moments, then shrugged. “It’s very tense,” he mentioned, “however there’s no bodily risk (in Jerusalem). It’s solely tense due to the struggle and so forth.”
That “and so forth” was doing a variety of heavy lifting.
A lifetime of creative resistance
Seventy-seven-year-old Sliman Mansour has spent half a century expressing the perseverance and resistance of the Palestinians by means of his portray. Born in rural Birzeit earlier than spending his youth in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, his youth was marked by what he noticed because the energetic erasure of Palestinian identification; numerous components of Palestinian tradition, such because the flag and even its colors, had been repressed or outright banned. In 1973 he co-founded the League of Palestinian Artists, which introduced a brand new sense of political urgency to the artwork of Palestine. Since then his singular model — which fuses components of realism, summary expressionism, and Surrealism — has given rise to a few of the most powerfully emotive pictures to emerge from the motion’s cultural opposition to oppression.
Mansour’s most recognisable works converse on to the plight of Palestinians. In Rituals Beneath Occupation, a sea of forlorn individuals carry a cross, the pillar of which is a Palestinian flag that stretches off into the horizon. In Perseverance and Hope, a trio in conventional Palestinian costume appears up at a dove, their fingers certain behind their backs, the backdrop a collage of horrible calamity. And naturally, there’s Camel of Hardship, considered one of Mansour’s earliest works to seek out widespread acclaim, which portrays a person staggering ahead with the burden of Jerusalem on his again.
The persistence of ‘sumud’
There’s an virtually pastoral stoicism to Mansour’s work that implores contemplation quite than cries out for consideration. These work are a few of the most internationally recognised works to current an idea referred to as sumud, a Palestinian idea that has additionally been captured by artists and writers equivalent to Ismail Shammouth, Mahmoud Darwish, Issam Badr and plenty of others.
“The that means of it in English is steadfastness,” defined Mansour. “For me, sumud is to not overlook who we’re and to struggle on a regular basis for our liberation. To not give in to the calls for of Israel — that if we wish to reside on this land, we have now to reside like a second-class individuals. That’s primarily what Israel needs of us — to just accept that they’re the rulers of this land. Sumud, for me, signifies that I don’t agree with that. And I’ll struggle that. That — briefly — is the that means of sumud.”
And within the case of Mansour’s artwork, that struggle is characterised by existence quite than violence. His portray, Reminiscence of Locations, for instance, reveals a person wearing conventional Palestinian garb standing earlier than a portray of an olive grove. The destruction of Palestinian olive groves on the a part of Israeli settlers has been a fierce level of competition lately, and Mansour’s meta-portrayal of such a grove — which we presume has been destroyed, for the previous man is standing earlier than a portray quite than precise timber — insists that the view contemplate the obliteration of Palestinian identification.
“A portray shouldn’t be filled with power and bloody violence. If I paint only a stunning panorama or individuals working within the discipline, it’s a part of the sumud considering.”
Purple, inexperienced, black, and white
Within the Eighties, Mansour was among the many artists who started utilizing what’s as we speak a widely known image of the Palestinian motion — the watermelon — after Israel handed laws censoring political artwork.
“They gave us guidelines like that we should always not paint in sure colors,” mentioned Mansour. “That we should always not paint in crimson, inexperienced, black, and white. This rule was printed in newspapers and in every single place, together with in Israel.”
Based on Mansour, when Israeli authorities asserted the color ban, painter Issam Badr requested if the colors may nonetheless be used to color flowers. No, mentioned an officer, flowers had been forbidden. Nothing in crimson, inexperienced, and black. Not even a watermelon.
“They wished to struggle the notion of a Palestinian identification,” defined Mansour. “As a result of our existence right here, for them, is ‘antisemitic’. That we exist, solely. It’s not what we do — simply our existence right here is one thing that they hate. It doesn’t match their narrative about Israel. What are these individuals doing right here? We got here to a land that needs to be empty. So our existence right here is one thing that makes them offended. Existence as staff — that we work for them within the fields or in factories and so forth — that’s okay. However existence, existence as a nationwide identification, as Palestinians — that’s what makes them mad.
“And that’s the explanation they forbid us to color in these colors. As a result of these colors are the colors of the Palestinian flag and the flag is a logo of the individuals.”
As a result of the colors of a watermelon examined the bounds of the ban, it turned a logo of resistance amongst artists and is now generally displayed at pro-Palestinian protests and by supporters on-line.
Once I informed Mansour that the thought of banning colors from a painter made about as a lot sense as banning a musician from enjoying sure notes, he nodded, including that portray in opposition to the ban may even have very actual penalties.
“In 1982 to ’84, many artists painted all the pieces in crimson, inexperienced, black, and white,” he mentioned. “A panorama, a portrait — something. And in 1984, an artist from Gaza painted the Palestinian flag they usually put him in jail for six months. His title is Fathi Ghabin. He’s now in Gaza working away from the bombs and so forth, however he spent six months imprisoned in ‘84.”
Mansour recollects that the ban even impressed a variety of Israeli artists to again their Palestinian counterparts by collaborating on exhibitions held all through the early Eighties.
“A bunch of Israeli left-wing artists got here to Ramallah to help us and we turned buddies with a lot of them and we began making exhibitions,” defined Mansour, “and all the time the primary title of the exhibition was, Down with the Occupation, and, For a Two-State Resolution, and issues like that. I perceive the sentiments of the Israeli artists who got here to help us at the moment. They had been very embarrassed. They informed us very frankly that they had been embarrassed.”
The hazards of contradicting the narrative
There was a traditionally excessive variety of journalists killed within the newest struggle on Gaza, together with scores of writers, poets, and different artists. Mansour asserts that that is all a part of an effort on the a part of Israel to not solely diminish Palestinian tradition however get rid of threats to an enforced narrative.
“The entire concept of Israel is narrative,” mentioned Mansour. “It’s a narrative, and they’re constructing over that — tales, tales — they usually wish to maintain these tales alive, they usually hate anyone who tells one other story. In order that’s why they hate writers and poets and individuals who converse one other facet of the story. And now the journalists.”
And he’s fast to level out that the present violence is way from the primary occasion, and that these wordsmiths have confronted even higher retaliation than the painters each as we speak and up to now.
Mansour famous the assassination of creator and politician Ghassan Kanafani, who alongside along with his niece was killed by a automotive bomb in 1972, with the Israeli intelligence company Mossad claiming accountability.
“They had been afraid of artists who handled the mass media, newspapers, and so forth,” Mansour recalled. “ A visible artist was not such a terrific risk to them. They had been offended with the individuals who wrote.”
The wrestle for humanity
It’s no secret that there’s a stark narrative divide dominating the query of Palestine and Israel. Once I requested Mansour how we will overcome this division, he mentioned that it should begin with the essential recognition of human rights.
“In the event that they settle for our existence then there may be one other method of connection. If Israelis respect our existence right here and settle for it, then it will be a lot simpler to speak to one another and to make a bridge between these narratives.
“We now have to determine first that everyone has the identical rights right here. We now have to return to some form of settlement.”
How, I questioned, can that be achieved?
“It’s a giant query,” Mansour mentioned, “However on the finish, I believe our struggle is to rehumanise ourselves. There’s a form of dehumanisation of the Palestinian individuals — that these individuals, the Palestinians, aren’t absolutely human beings. They’re lower than human beings, in order that they don’t deserve full rights and so we will take the land and we will kill them. The components may be very clear.
“I believe the individuals of the world ought to perceive that we don’t struggle as a result of we prefer to struggle. We hate to struggle, even. However we have now to. It’s like a cage that we’re put in, and we have now to get out of that cage. It’s a entice and historical past put us on this entice, ranging from the large wars. England, France, and all these imperialist states wished to create a state right here, they usually write the historical past. As a result of historical past is written by the victorious, and we Palestinians are misplaced on this components.
“Then the USA took over from France and Britain as the large imperialist nation. So it’s a giant sport and we Palestinians really feel very small. We aren’t sturdy sufficient to struggle this struggle. Huge powers stand in our method — we want the help of atypical individuals on this planet.”
The final word intention
In relation to the US, I requested Mansour what he wished People to know concerning the state of affairs, when their authorities has been supporting Israel militarily, financially, diplomatically and in shaping its narrative.
“That is the large downside as a result of the USA is the primary issue right here. And if they modify their coverage, all the pieces might be modified right here. However there’s a coverage of preserving the American individuals uninformed. You retain them at nighttime on a regular basis. And the People I do know are inclined to assume that the USA is the world. In order that they don’t care about anything. However for us, it is a massive downside. This angle of theirs is killing us.”
And if People do recognise their complacency and push for a change of coverage, what does Mansour hope would be the consequence?
“The long run is peace. Peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Possibly beginning with the two-state resolution with the assistance of Egypt and Jordan. I personally don’t care how, I simply need peace. I’ve been dwelling all my life on this turmoil and slaughter and it’s an excessive amount of for the individuals in it. All people needs a break. However I’m positive on the finish it is going to be one state that persons are dwelling in with equal rights. I believe that is the primary goal for each sensible human being, whether or not they’re Israeli or Palestinian. That is the one method we will reside on this land.
“I’ve emotions about Jaffa, about Haifa, about Acre, concerning the sea, and I wouldn’t reside in a rustic the place I couldn’t go to these locations. And I’m positive the Jews have emotions concerning the sea and plenty of locations in — they name it Judea and Samaria — within the West Financial institution, and so forth. We Palestinians perceive that right here there have been Jews earlier than. We don’t deny their existence as they do our existence.”
Regardless of the violence of Hamas’s assault on southern Israel on October 7 and the brutal Israeli invasion of Gaza that adopted, Mansour holds on to that hope for peace and equality.
“I’m not Hamas. Hamas got here yesterday and I’ve been right here for a few years. Hamas got here due to the occupation. And my buddies and the Palestinian individuals — they’re very peaceable. They hate combating. They hate struggle. It’s not that we like to make wars. We hate it and would like to reside as regular human beings — in peace. That’s our final intention.”
So what’s the artist to do in instances of battle or struggle, I requested him. He’s been at it for 50 years, capturing the spirit of Palestinian wrestle and sumud.
“In my case,” he replied, “I believe I’m siding with the correct facet of historical past and I’m doing my finest in my means to point out that. I don’t assume there’s a components for what artists ought to do. However they need to be truthful with their emotions, and they need to really feel with different individuals. I can simply go and work in my studio and overlook about anything and make flowers and good ladies and make exhibitions and promote and so forth. However that’s not how I’m constructed. And artists shouldn’t try this. They need to be extra energetic of their society.
“I imagine in artwork as a social instrument, not as ornament for rich individuals’s homes.”
