Ramallah Art Fair, launched by Zawyeh Gallery, returns with the theme titled “Voices of Resilience.” The latest edition of the Ramallah Art Fair (RAF), showcases over 100 pieces in various mediums by 35 artists, either born in Palestine or living abroad. The artworks are exhibited at Zawyeh’s main gallery (which also has a location in Dubai) and are available for online viewing. According to gallery manager Yusef Hussein, most of the works had already been reserved by collectors before the fair’s opening on December 7. The exhibition runs until January 18.
Courtesy the artist and Zawyeh Art Gallery
This year’s fair is divided into three sections: contemporary, photography, and rare. The Rare section highlights works by influential Palestinian artists, including the pioneering modernist and historian Ismail Shammout, as well as Fathi Ghaben, a painter and educator who passed away in Gaza this February after being denied medical care.
The artworks reflect a generational divide. Older pieces capture anecdotal and collective memories of the Nakba, the 1948 mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s establishment. One example is the work of Mustafa Al-Hallaj (b. 1938, Salama), who resettled in Damascus and later Beirut before returning to Damascus during the 1982 Lebanon War. Al-Hallaj lost around 25,000 prints in the bombing of Beirut, but one of his surviving pieces is featured in the exhibition. His diverse artistic practice included prints, murals, etchings, and sculpture, characterized by a melancholic palette. In a black-and-white untitled 1969 engraving, a woman surrounded by leaves appears poised to step forward and disappear, blending mythology with abstraction.
Courtesy the artist and Zawyeh Art Gallery
Al-Hallaj’s work contrasts sharply with that of Nabil Anani, also featured in the show. Anani’s vibrant mixed-media pieces are intricate, divided, and vividly colorful. One standout work, The Road to Freedom (2004), an ink and wood carving, depicts a mini-epic of perseverance under occupation. Sadly, the themes remain as relevant today as when the piece was created.
