Paintings

Work made by students and community members in the studio. A growing body of murals, canvases, and drawings.

murals we've painted

Large-scale works painted across the neighborhood in partnership with local restaurants, organizations, and schools. Each one carries a piece of the homeland into public view.

Mural of Gaza City's seafront at sunset — a golden-domed mosque with twin minarets rising above a coastal boulevard, apartment towers, a striped beach tent, and the Mediterranean shore. — Gaza City · 84th & Harlem, Chicago

Mural of Nazareth seen from above — the Basilica of the Annunciation with its dark conical dome ringed by dense red-roofed stone houses climbing the hillside among cypress and olive trees. — Nazareth · 84th & Harlem, Chicago

A storefront building at dusk with "EYES ON GAZA" painted in large white and hot-pink block letters across its black lower facade. — Eyes on Gaza

Wall mural of a Palestinian countryside scene — a man harvesting grapes from a vine trellis, a woman in an embroidered thobe carrying a clay jug, a child, and an elder baking bread at a taboon oven, over golden hills and a woven rug. — Lead artist Taqi Spateen · Harvest

Interior mural of a giant colorful stack of books, with children on wooden stools climbing up and peeking out from between the pages, on a gray cinderblock wall. — Taqi Spateen · Between the Books · Hikmeh Academy

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student & community work

Individual canvases and drawings made in the studio — homelands remembered, portraits, and works that hold what can't be said aloud.

Painting of two coastlines meeting across the water — Havana on the left with the Capitolio dome, a Cuban flag, and vintage pink and teal cars, and Yafa on the right with honey-stone houses, a minaret, a Palestinian flag, and fishing boats, joined by a lone palm on the horizon under a turquoise sky. — Chema Hernández of Guanajuato, Thaer AlKiswani of Beit Iksa & Shirien Ramadan of Haifa · Havana y Yafa · 36 × 48 · April 2026

Painting of the Dome of the Rock with a golden dome above a deep-blue octagonal body, set among cypress trees and the soft ochre rooftops of Jerusalem's old city beneath a teal sky. — Chema Hernández of Guanajuato & Thaer AlKiswani of Beit Iksa · Jerusalem Blue

Painting of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem — a honey-stone facade with pointed arches, a low dark doorway, a statue and crosses against a bright blue sky, and a potted orange tree in the courtyard. — Thaer AlKiswani, Chema Hernández & Shirien Ramadan · Church of the Nativity · 36 × 36 · acrylic on canvas

Loose painterly oil study of Jerusalem's Old City, the golden Dome of the Rock glowing at center above pale stone buildings, arched facades, and a lone cypress, against soft green hills and a broad blue sky, with the lower canvas left in bare, sketchy earth tones. — Kandi Jamieson & Thaer AlKiswani · Jerusalem in Zeit · 24 × 24

Vivid impressionist painting of a black cat with round golden eyes sitting in a blooming meadow, a burst of pink, orange, blue, and purple roses rising above it against green foliage and a pale blue sky. — Dr. Petra Al- Allan of Yafa · Lano · March 2026

Painting of the old city of Sana'a, Yemen — tall earthen tower-houses in browns and tans with white-outlined arched windows and a minaret, beneath a bright blue sky. — Thaer AlKiswani & Amanda Karaja of Beit Iksa & Saffa · Dreaming of Sanaa · 30 × 40

Painting of the Dome of the Rock seen through a stone arch, framed by a hanging lemon-tree branch heavy with fruit against a golden sky. — Dina Smadi of Nablus · Al Aqsa in Memory

Art from the Heart

فن من القلب

Everyone present paints on one canvas. Sessions happen at the studio and at Al Hub events. What the piece ends up being is decided collectively as it goes.

February 2025 · Marwa Tabeeb, Mahnoor Shafi & Kandi Jamieson

Inspired by a painting of a revolutionary by Lebanese artist Ayman Baalbaki, Mahnoor and Marwa set out to capture a single model wrapped in a keffiyeh. Baalbaki faced discrimination when his work was pulled from exhibition for being “controversial” in its portrayal of resistance; the artists wanted to answer his work with their own take. Made during an event, with little time to plan and execute the concept, the time limitation itself lends the piece a more urgent look. Choosing vibrant blues with pops of yellow and white to create depth, they built an emphasized focus on this individual activist.

The bird around the model, added in collaboration with a third artist, Kandi, symbolizes thoughts of freedom and movement — for there is no time to stay still. The eyes look forward to the revolution ahead of us all, and the covered identity lets the viewer feel like that individual in the painting, part of this ongoing struggle.

July 2024 · 16 artists

From grief, comes art. From art, comes memory. Each brushstroke preserves the memories of Reem, Tariq, Khaled, and all who are no longer with us — honoring their resilience, love, and sacrifice.

Born from collective creation in July 2024, this piece reflects the same spirit that fueled The Art of War album in December 2023. Its title comes from Khaled Nahban’s words, “Soul of the Soul.”

Hind’s Meadow · April 2024 · 6 artists

“When I reminisce on this night, I immediately remember the sense of beautiful community mixed in with a shared rage for the slaughter of our people. That night in Hind’s Meadow was one that showed me being Palestinian no longer was an identity bound by familial heritage but rather being Palestinian was defined by the contagious joy, collective solidarity and mutual plight to deconstruct the wretched colonialism that has bloodied our homes. To be Palestinian is to really challenge the status quo, and being able to hear my new comrades speak of that shared rage reminded me that to be Palestinian is to also inherently fight a system that has chained us for far too long. All glory to our martyrs and inshAllah a Palestine free from the river to the sea within our lifetime.”

Written by Shedda Suleiman of Saffuriya, Nazareth.