Please Help Artist Mohammed Al-Haj and his Family

ENGLISH AND ITALIAN VERSIONS FOLLOW

غزة ..

نزح أهله إلى مخيم النصيرات بعد نكبة ١٩٤٨ .. إلا أنه ولد في ليبيا عام ١٩٨٢ ونشأ وتربى هناك حتى نهاية عام ١٩٩٥ وعاد إلى قطاع فزة فلسطين مع أهله وانهى دراسته الثانوية ثم التحق بكلية الفنون الجميلة تخصص تربية فنية من جامعة الأقصى وعمل معلما للفنون باحدى المدارس الحكومية ..

لم يمنعه ذلك من ممارسة الفن برغم الظروف والتحديات التي يعيشها هنا في غزة ذات الاوضاع المتوترة دوما بحكم الحصار والتجويع التي تمارسه اسرائيل تجاه اهلها .. من خلال حبه وشغه للفن قدم رصيدا فنيا متنوعا في الأساليب الفنية من واقعية إلى تعبيرية رمزية ثم التجريدية وصولا إلى فنون البوب آرت وفنون الحفر والطباعة والنحت .. قدم من خلالها ٤ معارض فردية بالاضافة إلى سلسلة من المعارض الجماعية والورش والنشاطات الفنية داخل فلسطين وخارجها .. سنحت له فرصة للمشاركة في الحدث الفني الكبير ببينالي فينيسيا الدولي للفنون بايطاليا عام ٢٠٢٢ للنسخة ٥٩ وكان ذلك ضمن أول جناح فلسطيني في البينالي بدعوة من المتحف الفلسطيني بأمريكا .. احدى اعماله المشاركة في البينالي كانت امتداد لمشروعه الفني (انتقال - Displacement ) الذي عالج من خلاله فكرة الهجرة والنزوح الاجباري للسكان بسبب الحروب والصراعات السياسية في الشرق الأوسط .. لكنه لم يتصور ابدا أنه يستشرف مستقبله ومستقبل غزة من خلال ذلك .. هو الان نازح ويقيم في خيمة في منطقة المواصي الزراعية جنوبي قطاع غزة بين خان يونس ورفح .. وذلك بسبب سياسة الابادة الجماعية التي تمارسها اسرائيل على أهل غزة .. يعيش هو واسرته يوميا تحديات وظروف عصيبة للغاية تتمثل في توفير مقومات صموده من مأكل ومشرب وملبس واغطية له ولزوجته وأبنائه الاربعة .. الذين فقدوا الأمن والأمان مؤخرا وحرمانهم من عام دراسي بالكامل خاصة أننا في الشهر السادس من العدوان مما ادى الى تعطل المدارس والمؤسسات بالكامل ..الحياة اصبحت مشلولة في كل شيء .. وهو تلان يسعى للخروج من غزة هو واسرته باحثا عن ملاذ آمن له ولمستقبل ابنائه الذي اصبح مجهول المصير في غزة .. بالاضافة لمستقبل فنه الذي خسر معظم اعماله الفنية وعدم قدرته للوصول إليها بسبب تقسيم قطاع غزة من قبل جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي .. خلال فتره نزوحه استطاع أن يصنع رصيدا فنيا متواضعا يعبر عن الحالة التي يعيشها هو وأبنائه بشكل خجول معبرا عن يوميات نازح فلسطيني طال به وقت الانتظار .. وهو الان يسعى للخروج بأي وسيلة من معبر رفح الذي يحتاج إلى تكاليف باهضة لذلك له ولأسرته .. غزة لم يعد لها مستقبلا سياسيا أو اقتصاديا أو اجتماعيا بل حتى ثقافيا .. لقد انهارت البنية التحتية بشكل تام !!!!

ITALIAN VERSION FOLLOWS

Mohammed Al-Haj is a Palestinian artist residing in the city of Gaza. He is a Palestinian refugee from the village of Kawkaba in the Gaza district. His family fled to the Nuseirat refugee camp after the 1948 Nakba. However, he was born in Libya in 1982 and was raised there until the end of 1995 when he returned to Gaza, Palestine, with his family. He completed his high school education and then joined the Faculty of Fine Arts, specializing in art education, at Al-Aqsa University. He worked as an art teacher in a government school. Despite the challenging circumstances in Gaza, marked by constant tension due to the blockade and hunger imposed by Israel on the Palestinians, his passion for art never waned.

Through his love and dedication to art, he has contributed diversely to various artistic styles, ranging from realism to symbolic expressionism, and even abstract art, reaching into pop art, printmaking, and sculpture. He has held four solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions, workshops, and artistic activities both inside and outside Palestine. He had the opportunity to participate in the prestigious Venice Biennale in Italy in 2022, as part of the first Palestinian pavilion, invited by the Palestinian Museum in America. One of his contributions to the Biennale was an extension of his artistic project "Displacement," addressing the concept of migration and forced displacement of populations due to wars and political conflicts in the Middle East. However, he never imagined that he would foresee his own future and the future of Gaza through this. He is now displaced, living in a tent in the agricultural area between Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza, due to Israel's policy of collective punishment inflicted on the people of Gaza. He and his family face daily challenges and extremely difficult conditions, struggling to provide the basic necessities of life, such as food, drink, clothing, and shelter for himself, his wife, and their four children. They have recently lost their sense of security and have been deprived of an entire academic year due to the complete shutdown of schools and institutions during the sixth month of the onslaught. Life has become paralyzed in every aspect.

He is now desperately seeking a way out of Gaza for himself and his family, searching for a safe haven and a future for his 4 children, whose fate has become uncertain in Gaza. In addition to the uncertain future of his art, most of his artwork has been lost, and he is unable to access it due to the division of Gaza by the Israeli occupation army. During his displacement, he managed to create a modest artistic portfolio reflecting the situation he and his children are experiencing, timidly expressing the daily life of Palestinian refugees during the waiting period and their daily struggles in getting basic necessities such as food, water, electricity, healthcare, housing , jobs, education and mobility. He is now forced to leave through any means possible via the Rafah crossing, which requires exorbitant costs for him and his family. Gaza no longer has a political, economic, social, or even cultural future. The infrastructure has completely collapsed.

Mohammed Al-Haj è un artista palestinese residente nella città di Gaza. È un rifugiato palestinese del villaggio di Kawkaba nel distretto di Gaza. La sua famiglia fuggì nel campo profughi di Nuseirat dopo la Nakba del 1948. Tuttavia egli nacquein Libia nel 1982 e crebbe lì fino alla fine del 1995, quando tornò a Gaza, in Palestina, con la sua famiglia. Ha completato gli studi liceali e poi si è iscritto alla Facoltà di Belle Arti, specializzandosi in educazione artistica, presso l'Università di Al-Aqsa. Ha lavorato come insegnante d'arte in una scuola governativa. Nonostante le difficili circostanze a Gaza, segnate dalla costante tensione dovuta al blocco imposto da Israele ai palestinesi, la sua passione per l'arte non è mai venuta meno.

Attraverso il suo amore e la sua dedizione per arte, ha contribuito in modo diverso a vari stili artistici, dal realismo all'espressionismo simbolico e persino all'arte astratta e alla pop art, all'incisione e alla scultura. Ha tenuto quattro mostre personali e ha partecipato a numerose mostre collettive, workshop e attività artistiche sia all'interno che all'esterno della Palestina. Ha avuto l'opportunità di partecipare alla prestigiosa Biennale di Venezia in Italia nel 2022, come parte del primo padiglione palestinese, invitato dal Palestine Museum USA. Uno dei suoi contributi alla Biennale è stato un'estensione del suo progetto artistico "Displacement", che affronta il concetto di migrazione e spostamento forzato delle popolazioni a causa di guerre e conflitti politici in Medio Oriente. Tuttavia egli non avrebbe mai immaginato che stava presagendo il proprio futuro e il futuro di Gaza. Ora è sfollato e vive in una tenda nella zona agricola tra Khan Yunis e Rafah, nel sud di Gaza, a causa della politica israeliana di punizione collettiva inflitta alla popolazione di Gaza. Lui e la sua famiglia affrontano sfide quotidiane e condizioni estremamente difficili, lottando per provvedere ai beni di prima necessità, come cibo, bevande, vestiti e alloggio. Sia lui che i figli hanno perso ogni sicurezza sono stati privati di un intero anno accademico a causa della chiusura completa di scuole e istituzioni .

Ora Mohammed Al-Haj sta cercando disperatamente una via d'uscita da Gaza per sé e per la sua famiglia, alla ricerca di un rifugio sicuro e di un futuro per i suoi quattro figli, il cui destino è diventato troppo incerto a Gaza. La maggior parte delle sue opere sono andate perdute e lui non può accedervi a causa della divisione di Gaza da parte dell'esercito di occupazione israeliano. Durante lo sfollamento è riuscito tuttavia a creare un portfolio artistico che riflette la situazione che lui e la famiglia stanno vivendo, rappresentando la vita quotidiana dei rifugiati palestinesi durante questo periodo e le loro lotte quotidiane per ottenere beni di prima necessità come cibo, acqua, elettricità, sanità, alloggio, lavoro e mobilità. Ora però è costretto aa andarsene con ogni mezzo possibile attraverso il valico di Rafah, il che comporta costi esorbitanti per lui e la sua famiglia. Gaza non ha più un futuro politico, economico, sociale e nemmeno culturale. L'infrastruttura è completamente crollata.