due to unforeseen circumstances the artists cannot be there
studio complex kipvis Dreesstraat 2 | Flushing
June 1, 2025
12 u. 00 – 18 u. 00
At a time when cities are being bombed and dreams are being killed under the rubble of iron and fire, my artistic initiative A painting against every missile is being launched as a resilient conscience, and an aesthetic act that brings back to life its meaning, for man its voice and for the earth its image and colour.
Mohamed Harb_art – painting front page
due to unforeseen circumstances the artists cannot be there
On Sunday afternoon, June 1 from 12 noon - 5 p.m. art workshop Kipvis in Vlissingen held aso called open studio day with its 22 artist. Hans Overvliet made his studio partially available for his friends / colleagues from Gaza and Ukraine who cannot come to Vlissingen due to unforeseen circumstances.
With work by Ahmed Muhanna, Olena Golub, Mohamed Harb, Marwan Nassar, Sohail Salem, Oleg Kharch, Raed Issa and Maisara Baroud.
The legitimation of this intimate exhibition we derived from Sohail Salem: My small, sharp, and disturbed drawings encapsulate fear and anger in a narrow notebook space. Quick sketches because they had a sense of calm. Considering that artwork is produced in its context, it is more than just the distribution of color on empty spaces; it is a state of internal accumulation that I express as a miniature portrait of my condition, ambitions, hopes, and pain.
At the conclusion of this exhibition, we will publish a catalogue of the work.
This modest catalogue contains the exhibited work, concluded with an SOS by Sohail Salemfrom which the above quotation is taken .
the works | the artists
Drawing with ink pens on school notebooks, hoping for an everlasting light, despite the constant noise of airplanes flying over Gaza and the sounds of explosions, which cause headaches, loss of concentration, and sometimes even temporary memory loss. With my trembling hands, I try to draw without hesitation and post my sketches on social media whenever I have the opportunity. The cold blue page is beginning to ignite and grow hotter from the interaction of my friends.
My drawings are a message to the world, a scream for help. A message to my friends that I am still well. Friends, relatives, and neighbors have disappeared. Beautiful Gaza has been destroyed. With simple tools, I buy them from a street vendor in Deir al-Balah. My priorities include buying groceries and paying the rent for the garage where I live, especially during wars of exploitation and high prices. There's alsono placeto work, the place is chaotic, and my family is crowded. These small notebooks and pens were my refuge, and I placed them in my small bag withoutworry,asifIwerewriting my memoirs daily. Every day, a story or a tale inspires me with one or more drawings. I never planned for this to be met with the approval of my friends and for them to
the approval of my friends and for them to share my stories with them.
My first drawing was of a violet flower, when I asked the good fairy to turn into a rose . . . With courage, her fellow violets dared not dare to do so, based on the story of the ambitious violet by Gibran Khalil Gibran. It is the violet that did not pay attention to betrayal and intimidation. I did not migrate to the south at the beginning of the war, despite the extreme danger, but the occupation army arrested me when they stormed my residence in Gaza City, the southern neighborhood of Al-Rimal, and separated me from my family, forcing them to flee on foot to the city of Deir al-Balah. This was on January 18, 2023; 105 days after the war.
The soldiers interrogated me while I was handcuffed and blindfolded, and they wrote a letter in Hebrew on my forehead. The men around me whispered about the meaning of this and whether it meant the army would kill me first?! After long hours of interrogation, they released me to walk for about seven hours as well.I arrivedinthe cityof DeiralBalah. The second day of searching, without any evidence or information. A call led me to my family's location. The idea of drawing seemed ridiculous.
drawing seemed ridiculous. What could I draw in such circumstances?! And why? My brain was damaged from the sound of intense bombing that still resonated in my head.
I began drawing in Deir al-Balah. It was a mission for me to release a visual store of misery I had stored in my mind. This was most brutal when I was forced to pass over the bodies of martyrs during the displacement. Overcrowding of the displaced and listening to the news on the radio at high volume, I triedto separatemyself from my surroundings every morning and draw. My small, sharp, and disturbed drawings encapsulate fear and anger in a narrow notebook space. Quick sketches because they had a sense of calm.
Considering that artwork is produced in its context, it is more than just the distribution of color on empty spaces; it is a state of internal accumulation that I express as a miniature portrait of my condition, ambitions, hopes, and pain.
Salem | December 30, 2024
Colophon
Art works:
Ahmed Muhanna, Olena Golub, Mohamed Harb, Marwan Nassar, Sohail Salem, Oleg Kharch, Raed Issa and Maisara Baroud.
Exhibition
Studio complex Kipvis | Dreesstraat 2 – Flushing – the Netherlands
June 1, 2025 12:00 – 17:00 PM
Curator | production | catalogue hans overvliet | www.hansovervliet.com
Thanks
The artists
Cor de Lange | helped building the wall
