The artist who dreamed of peace in Gaza

Author and translation: Vahid Aliyev

In 2021, the Palestinian artist Heba Zagout created an artwork entitled Gaza Peace. The 95 x 94 cm acrylic painting depicts Gaza as a harmonious and peaceful city decorated with dozens of religious shrines, temples, and churches that, despite being densely packed, seem to beautifully coexist. Coloured in various shades of black, white, and gray, the city that Zagout imagines is a clear shadow of the present – a distant reality that many Palestinians dream of but may never live to see.

Gaza Peace

In her painting, Zagout acknowledges the existing occupation as a barrier to this vision of a peaceful future. Like the walls bordering Gaza, violent waves are blocking off the city’s entrance. To illustrate decades of indiscriminate bombs and bullets, she paints the sky a bloody red. Despite clear signs of oppression, Zagout reminds us that, for Palestinians, an enduring hope for peace and coexistence still prevails. Across the bloody skies of Gaza, white doves are flying. With wings decorated in Palestinian embroideries, they symbolise the collective hope for a free and peaceful future.

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