Research Guides: Understanding the Current Conflict in the Middle East: Israeli & Palestinian Writers & Artists

An Overview of Art Created in Response to the Conflict

Camlacaze. (2001). "Time is Now, Yalla!", Israel/Palestine. [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons.

Artistic expression has increased in abundance after the events of October 7, 2023. Israeli and Palestinian artists of all disciplines have used their art as a way to take action, to tell the stories of individuals, to call for political action, to remember, to foster unity, and so much more.

This collection of resources highlights the creativity that has come alive across Israel and Palestine since October 7, 2023. Please note that the artists and writers featured in this guide only reflect a fraction of the individuals working to comment on the toll of war through art and literature, and that many works exist online and in exhibits waiting to be viewed and reflected upon. While many of the artists and writers listed below are currently based in Israel or Palestine, some, be it by choice or out of necessity, are currently residing in and creating artwork in other parts of the world.

Koketit
The Tel Aviv-based artist is best known for her drawings, which are usually fluid representations of women and faces, drawn in one elegantly twisting line. Her unique and captivating drawing style and mixed media art has brought her to the attention of some of the world’s leading brands.
Einat Tsarfati
Einat Tsarfati is an Israeli author-illustrator. A graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, she works as a freelance editorial illustrator in addition to creating her own picture books, including the international bestseller Neighbours, Sandcastle, It Could be Worse and It Could Be Much Worse.
Sofie Berzon MacKie
British-Israeli curator and visual artist based in Israel. She works mostly with photographic and lens-based material, and over the years her creations have evolved around themes of identity, immigration, nature vs. culture, hybridity, science and human spirit.
Michal Worke
Born in Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel on “Moses Operation" in 1984. Works and lives in Tel Aviv, and is a painter most known for her works advocating for the release of Avera Mengistu.
Addam Yekutieli
Yekutieli is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tel Aviv. In his ongoing projects, he has reflected on the ideas of scars and borders and the effect they have on people geographically, physically and psychologically.

Emily Jacir
Palestinian artist primarily concerned with transformation, questions of translation, resistance, and silenced historical narratives. Jacir investigates personal and collective movement through public space and its implications on the physical and social experience of trans-Mediterranean space and time.
Sliman Mansour
Mansour is a Palestinian artist known for his vivid and powerful paintings that showcase the beauty and resilience of Palestinian culture.
Dana Barqawi
Dana Barqawi is a multidisciplinary artist and urban planner, based in Amman, Jordan. Dana’s work challenges colonial narratives, explores indigenous identities, and aspects of womanhood and community.
Mosab Abu Toha
Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, short story writer, and essayist from Gaza. Abu Toha is the author of Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (2022, City Lights), which won a 2022 Palestine Book Award.
Malak Mattar
Palestinian artist who is most well known for her monumental greyscale painting called No Words. This work offers commentary on what Mattar states is the apocalyptic horror and extent of the displacement, ethnic cleansing and atrocities being ravaged upon her fellow Palestinians.

Museum Displays, Art Exhibits, & Special Art Collections

Israeli
Palestinian

Breaking Witness Archive
The Bearing Witness Archive, led by the National Library of Israel, is a large-scale project to document the events of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war period. The project is in partnership with organizations in Israel and Diaspora Jewish communities, and its purpose is to create a reliable, accessible and extensive database of all documentation materials, an archive that will be an essential resource for us and for future generations.
Kalaniyot
Kalanit is the word for anemone, a flower that grows wild and plentiful in the fields surrounding many of the kibbutzim that were attacked on October 7. This platform is filled with dozens of posts, by both veteran artists and amateur ones, with embroidered illustrations, digital paintings and simple geometric designs. Some call for peace, some for the return of the hostages, others are just images of that blood red flower, which keeps growing around abandoned towns and ashened homes.
The Gallery | Kibbutz Beeri
The Gallery on Kibbutz Beeri is a unique center that has featured an ongoing display (since 1986) of quality Israeli art. Some of the most renowned artists in Israel, alongside younger artists, have exhibited their work at the Kibbutz Beeri Gallery. Works have included painting, sculpture, photography, video, print, installation and performance.
The iCenter: Art in a Time of War
This collection of resources highlights the creativity that has come alive across Israel since October 7. Israeli artists of all disciplines have used their art as a way to take action, they’ve used their art to tell the stories of individuals, as calls for political action (both in Israel and abroad), as a means of escape, as a way to remember and to foster unity, and so much more.
“Spectrum of Lights”: Nassima Landau Art Foundation
25 Israeli artists from all segments of society joining hands to support Kibbutz Be'eri & Elem.

Palestine Museum
The mission of the Palestine Museum is to research and preserve Palestinian history; showcase the Palestinian experience, pre- and post-Nakbah, in Palestine and in the diaspora; celebrate Palestinian cultural and artistic achievements; tell the Palestinian story to US and global audience through works of art, film, literature, and mixed media; and, serve as a cultural common ground for all Palestinians.
The Gaza Biennale
The biennale is an exhibit organized by Palestinian artists with the intent of drawing attention to the struggle of the Palestinian people to survive the war in Gaza. Many of the artworks to be featured have created by people who have been displaced from their homes and subjected to over a year of intense bombardment and the deprivation of basic necessities, including food, water and fuel.
Exhibition of Children’s Art from Gaza
This exhibition, organised by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research’s art department for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on the 29th of November, highlights artwork from children and youth from Gaza, Palestine.
Gaza Art on Display in Amman
The exhibition Under Fire features four artists from Gaza. The artists of Gaza have not stopped drawing since the beginning of the war; they have continued despite the inhumane conditions they face, including forced displacement, hunger, and the lack of basic necessities. They continued to produce their art, draw, and express the conditions they live in.
Mizna
For over twenty-five years, Mizna has been a woman-led contemporary arts organization. Since their founding, they have promoted experimental approaches to art, literature, and film; work that questions and expands the forms and conceptual frameworks of Arab and SWANA culture.