Moqawem Qadem by Rana Samara

Moqawem Qadem by Rana Samara: The project launched by Zawyeh Gallery, ‘Posters for Gaza’ aims to shed light on the ethnic cleansing and horrific massacres inflicted on the Gaza Strip demanding cease fire and the recognition of Palestinian rights to live freely on their land with dignity.

Representing a long tradition in Palestinian history, political posters were produced extensively in the seventies and the eighties by the Palestinian Liberation Organization with the contribution of Palestinian, Arab, and international artists. Posters played a crucial role then in supporting the justice of the Palestinian cause and promoting it globally, guided by freedom, dignity, resilience, and the ongoing aspiration for independence, sought by Palestinians.

Rana Samara was born in 1985 in Jerusalem. She is a Palestinian artist and a graduate of the International Art Academy, Ramallah (2015).

Samara’s project – Intimate Space – explores societal norms, sexuality, gender roles, and other factors associated with modern Palestinian life. Her work focuses on the less obvious factors that underpin the daily lives of women who reside in overcrowded refugee camps and rural communities – women whose lives continue to be blighted both by conservative traditions and the exigencies of life under occupation.

Focusing on marital intimacy, Samara demystifies many social taboos and translates these onto large, bold, and colorful canvases that are both remarkable social statements and beautiful artistic constructs. Conversations with women form the backbone of her work transcended the private space into the realm of the public. Often depicting the aftermath of sexual encounters, Samara’s paintings are remarkable visual metaphors of the lives of Palestinian women existing in restricted environments, cramped and constrained by internal traditions and external forces.