Young Palestinian artist Lina Abojaradeh: art is my one form of resistance

It must have been about half a year ago when on Twitter, I came across a stunning painting relating to the Palestinian struggle, that I then decided to share on my Facebook page. I remember being enchanted by its moving symbolism, its use of colours, and its powerful message. The name of the artist, Lina Abojaradeh, was pasted at the bottom of the image, and it stuck with me. I had no idea who this artist was, although her last name suggested a Palestinian heritage. However, about a week ago, another painting was shared by someone on my home feed, which was equally impressive, and this time it was shared straight from her Facebook page. I immediately recognised her name, as well as the uniquely expressive style of the painting. Of course, I shared that one too, but I also became curious about the artist.

When the biography on that page mentioned that this lady was only 20 years old, I was even more impressed. I believe that the young generation of Palestinians, in Palestine itself and in the diaspora, deserve to have their views heard, and their artistic expressions highlighted and promoted. After all, we are involved in a long struggle for our freedom, which will require the visions of the struggle to be carried onto the next generation, until our goals are achieved.

I am delighted to introduce you to Lina Abojaradeh. She currently lives in Amman, studying architecture at the University of Jordan in her third year. Her fellow engineering students encouraged her to start a Facebook page, which she did in August 2013.

“The Abojaradeh family is originally from Yaffa. When Yaffa was being attacked year of 1948, my grandpa moved his family to Nablus, where my dad was born. After 1967 and the takeover of the West Bank, he then sought refuge in Kuwait, and then finally after the Gulf war, he moved the family to Jordan.  My mom’s family is originally from Jenin, but she was born in Kuwait.”

Lina started painting at the age of 13. “We had recently moved from Canada to Jordan, and it was a huge transition. I had been raised in the west (the US/Canada). It was hard to integrate at first, I was a recluse at school and barely spoke to anyone at all, the language, the people, and the lifestyle were alien to me. I started painting as an outlet, something to do and release the pent up emotions I had.”

After that, it didn’t take very long for her to start including elements of her Palestinian heritage and the Palestinian cause in her artwork, and it immediately brought her success. “I was 15 yrs old when I drew my first Palestine-related painting. My teacher suggested I enter a competition held by the Quds cultural forum. Up to that point I had been painting landscapes and still life. This time was the first time I really pushed my creativity to tell a story in my painting. It won 2nd place in all of Jordan, and was the best work I had ever done. I realized how meaningful art could be.”

I really began to understand and read about Palestine when I turned 18. By this age I was questioning everything, and I looked deeper into my origins as an Arab Palestinian. I became very interested in the happenings of the Arab spring and read about everything to do with political history of the middle east. After this my art consisted more of responses to events happening in Egypt, Syria and Palestine. I realized that Palestine is a universal cause, and that people from all over the worlds were activists. I have learned so many things from the friends who I’ve met through shared love of Palestine.”

Despite her increased attention for the Palestinian cause, her most successful drawing so far was related to an entirely different event that made worldwide headlines.  “My most popular work is a cartoon I did in response to the media hypocrisy regarding the Charlie Hebdo shootings. It consists of protesters holding a sign reading ‘freedom to insult’ and ‘freedom of speech’ surrounded by the press on one side, and on the other, a Palestinian child holding a sign ‘freedom of life’. It’s interesting, it was drawn in 20 minutes and I was nervous about sharing it at all, but it has reached 362,000 people. I think it was received so well, regardless of the artistic technique, because of the simple, heartbreaking truth it conveyed. It was provocative and invoked a reaction.”

Lina doesn’t find it hard to explain what moves her the most about the Palestinian struggle. “Just the injustice of it all. Palestinians were living peacefully before the creation of Zionism. Since then they have been expelled, demeaned and killed simply for belonging to Palestine. They are treated without even the basic human rights, in a land which their ancestors have cultivated for hundreds and hundreds of years. The suffering gets to me too. We see images of the homeless, the orphans, the widows, those in prison, but we can’t imagine what it feels like to actually live that.”

Her determination is also expressed in this beautiful verse from one of her poems:

They cannot stop the sea
from sharing our ancestors’ history.
They cannot stop the sky
from giving Gaza another sunrise.

This young Palestinian artist obviously knows what she wants: she has very clearly defined ambitions and goals. “My dream is to open up an exhibit or gallery of my artwork, and to publish a book of my paintings accompanying my poetry. I want to become a name in the art world as a Palestinian artist and to sell my art in order to help the Palestinian cause financially. And maybe along the way I’ll become an inspiration for other Palestinian artists.”

She has not only drawn her inspiration from Palestinian artists and historical figures. She is widely oriented, and moved by the actions and expressions of people from a variety of backgrounds. “One of the first people to encourage my art, my biology teacher at school Asma Jibreen, showed me a painting done by Ismael Shammout and he has since become my artistic inspiration. Mahmoud Darwish made me understand the importance and beauty of poetry. I aspire to be as active as spoken-word artist Rafeef Ziadeh.  Lowkey and musicians like him were also a huge inspiration to me; his music was a turning point in my life. I greatly admire leaders for justice like Malcom X. All activists who fight for what they believe in are my role models, from  Rachel Corrie, to Israeli author Miko Peled, to prisoner Samer Issawi ,to journalist Harry Fear, and others.”

Despite her deep love for and attachment to Palestine, the land of her ancestors, she has never visited it so far. “I haven’t visited Palestine, but I hope to do so soon; it is one my biggest dreams to pray in Al-Aqsa and visit the old city in Jerusalem.  I still feel like I have a connection to it, especially through my grandfather. He often shares stories of Yaffa and life there for him growing up. His descriptions of the beach and the fruit orchards and al-Hamra cinema fascinate me, Palestine before occupation sounds like heaven to me.”

Lina believes that art is not a matter to be taken lightly.  “Art is so unbelievably important, be it poetry, or music, or visual art. Sometimes I feel so helpless that I can’t physically protect and help Palestinians. Art is my one form of resistance, the part of me I can give. Art can share stories and struggles and pain of the Palestinian people in ways statistics of fatalities and facts about the occupation can’t. Many people are blinded by biased media, and so it is our job as artists to make Palestinians relatable as humans.”

However, it wasn’t always easy for her to get people to give it that same level of importance, but this has not deterred her from doing what she believes in. “The hard thing for me was to get people to take my art seriously, especially in the beginning.  A lot of people around me didn’t see it as a career or future or anything more than a ‘passing hobby’.  Fb opened a huge door for me to share my art. I have gotten so much encouragement from pages and groups and individuals who are against war and are for freedom, not only for Palestine but every oppressed people. The number of people behind me doesn’t matter to me as much as the sincerity of the people who have encouraged me.”

Lina uses her own unique style of drawing techniques and materials, which undoubtedly plays a role in the expressive power of her paintings. She explains how she uses various different materials to create her own style. “I started with watercolor and that is the main medium I use, although over the years, especially being an architecture student, I have become masterful of graphite drawing, and have experimented with acrylic and color pencils. It’s funny, I remember when I was in the 11th grade, I’d gone to an art gallery to show my paintings, and the owner told me I was using watercolor ‘all wrong’. He said I needed professional art lessons to really learn the techniques. My use of watercolor involves little use of water, so the colors are bold and vivid and detailed rather than runny and cloudy, which is the standard way of using watercolor. It has become my signature unique style, and it works for me.”

You can watch the artist at work, if you check out this video in which she has speeded up the process of drawing an image from a popular animation movie. Undoubtedly, you will be amazed as much as I was by how skilfully she uses color, shadow, and shape, and how she makes the cartoon figure come to life.

There is no doubt, considering the conviction with which Lina Abojaradeh expresses herself as an artist and as a human, that she plans to continue to use her gift of graphical art, and expand her horizons. She also has something to say to people her own generation, with the following inspiring words: “My message to them is to utilize whatever talent they have and CREATE! Believe in yourself despite what anyone says, in your passion and creativity and there will be no limits. Palestine will never be truly occupied if we keep it alive in people’s hearts and consciousness. It will be hard at first because it might feel like it isn’t really making a difference, but we’ve all got to start somewhere. Believe that you are part of the resistance and part of the grassroots movement which will eventually liberate Palestine.”

With a powerful and inspiring message like that, the only thing left for you to do is to go to Lina’s Facebook page, like it, and check out her beautiful works of art. No doubt, just like me, you will be inspired to share it with your friends, and give this wonderful young Palestinian artist the exposure she deserves.

Doc Jazz