Jerusalem Mona Lisa by Mohamed Khalil – Limited Edition Print

Jerusalem Mona Lisa by Mohamed Khalil

Mohamed Khalil, born in Al-Zarqa, Jordan in 1960 and originally from Al-Walaja, a village near Bethlehem, draws on iconic imagery to explore themes of identity, erasure, and political invisibility. In one striking body of work, he reinterprets the Mona Lisa—arguably one of the most universally recognized portraits in Western art history. By obscuring the face of this enigmatic figure, long admired and endlessly discussed, Khalil offers a powerful commentary on the silencing of Palestinian voices and the erasure of their presence.

The act of blocking out her face symbolically mirrors the experience of Palestinians whose identities and narratives are often overlooked, dismissed, or suppressed. Through this intervention, Khalil transforms a celebrated cultural symbol into a vessel for political critique, reclaiming space for the unseen and unheard in the global imagination. His work invites viewers to question not only who is represented in art, but also who remains hidden—and why.