“Al Huriyah” (=“freedom”). 40×30 cm Riso print. 40€ on my online shop. All benefits go to “Yafa Cultural Centre” based in Balata Refugee Camp, in Palestine. Buy it here: https://sebtoussaint.bigcartel.com/
Amongst all the Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 during the Nakba, a community of fishermen from Yafa settled in Balata Refugee Camp, in the West Bank. Today it is home to approximately 25000 refugees making it the most populous Refugee Camp in the West Bank.
I stayed in the Camp twice, and my home was in the culture centre itself. The centre offers many different courses to children of the camp as well as art events and cultural outings.
At night the camp often turns into a war-zone where the occupying army faces local resistance. I personally know kids who got shot in the last couple of years. The latest episode of the ongoing conflict and the expansion of colonisation leave me often hopeless and feeling useless.
But I do think that art can have a real impact in helping a traumatised youth to express itself. Plus, I know from my experience that the locals will feel the love coming from those who purchased a print. Whenever anyone expresses solidarity towards the Palestinian people, they are reminded that although the politicians of the world have abandoned them, the humans of the world have not.
Seb Toussaint 