Chicago Bare's Witness Collection

May 22, 2024

Collective · 5 Artists

During a recent session, a community member expressed deep sorrow and grief. Artists left a community forum where they felt misplaced and anxious. The facilitator chose a random color, and a majority had never painted. The facilitator provided a supportive embrace and validated their feelings, then gently led them to use art as an expressive outlet. At first they began individually, and then after an artist asked if they could paint in another space, it flowed and all participated. Then came the question, “why don’t we rotate the canvas around?” — all agreed and collectively rotated. They were free: hura, azadee, libre — and nothing could go wrong.

May 27, 2024

Collaborative · Thaer & Kandi

We heard the news, and asked the world to bear witness to the atrocities committed in Rafah. The world watches as fathers pull their children from the rubble of their family homes, and we ask: where are the people of the world? Why does the world continue to watch our slaughter yet stay silent? The colorful eye represents the global world, from all different backgrounds, who are standing and fighting for Gaza. The movement needs you, every individual, to play an important role, and we will unite to ensure a liberated future for seeds.

June 1, 2024

Collaborative · 2 Artists

Resistance in Palestine stems through our culture and the love we have rooted in our land. As artists, we must preserve history because art holds truth and evokes our ancestral bonds. The artist revolt is an uprising that decolonizes the creative mind and allows the resistance to express and think creatively toward a collective liberation. Within this piece is the remembrance of all our martyrs — with every stroke and color, “we think about you all of the time.” The centered triangle represents the resistance in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine and the bottom-up, grassroots approach required to achieve it.

June 16, 2024

Collective Event · 45 Artists of all ages

Eid Al-Adha — the second Eid during the Gaza Genocide — brought a lot of pain, grief, and remembrance for our martyrs. Al Hub set up an art tent outside The Qahwa, in the heart of Little Palestine, where anyone of any age could come and have the freedom to paint. The majority of children asked to start with the color black, reflecting their internal grief; volunteers encouraged them to break away, and slowly, as the kids began creating without rules, their creativity shined and pushed through their comfort zones. The children of Falasteen are our future, and Al Hub’s goal is to show children that they can and will be the change. It’s important to center our youth and vocalize their voices to preserve the legacy of Falasteen.

July 8, 2024

Collective & Collaborative · 15 Artists

Women are on the frontlines of the resistance; draped in keffiyehs, our daughters and mothers have fought for centuries against the zionist regime. Palestine is a mother waiting for her children to return home to her, together and united. The lines all connect and show how all Palestinians are interconnected and resistant to the border walls that have separated families. Without discussing or planning, the artists began to paint from their hearts, and the art flew out of their hands effortlessly — almost as if they were subconsciously sharing stories as they created collectively. This painting, as a whole, is like a map of layered emotions, each layer telling a story with the next. When creating in a collective, there is no such thing as making a mistake, because as a community we keep each other afloat and safe.

August 2024

Collective · 25+ Palestinian Youth and Children

The youth and community at the Arab Chicago Farm have observed that, when given the opportunity to paint in collective, Palestinians of all ages will almost immediately use the colors black and red. Black is associated with death and loss; red with anger and violence. The colors quickly run out. After excessive use of those two colors — or a guided pivot — white, blue, and green are sought after: blue for calmness, green for renewal and growth, white for purity. It’s clear that we need to “purge” the darkness and horror being imposed on us and our people. I encourage parents to paint with their children; they need you to paint with them, and to let it all out, together. On the journey to return amidst genocide, let’s heal so we may proceed in clarity. Until Return.

September 26, 2024

Collective · 5 Artists

Our students deserve the world — the just world they are fighting for. At Saint Xavier University, SJP showcased local talents in the quad, from henna by Sahara Henna Designs to singers Eddy Mack and Norhan. The students remain staunch in their thobes and in the streets; our culture is all we have left to cling to in a time when we are being silenced. When spraypaint appeared, PALESTINE — in its many shapes and forms — appeared as well. The most authentic art comes resisting the status quo; the writing of graffiti is inherently a political act. The crime is insubordination — reacting against those who make the rules. GAZA GAZA WE WILL RISE… LONG LIVE PALESTINE.