Art, Testimony, and Genocide: Creative Expression as Resistance in Gaza

When entire segments of the population face systematic violence, displacement, material destruction, and death, an ethical urgency arises: how to give voice to what seems incomprehensible? How to memorialize without neutralizing pain, how to denounce genocide without aestheticizing it? Art, in its multiple formats—painting, drawing, illustration, performance, installations, digital art—has emerged as an instrument of criticism, resistance, and testimony in Gaza.

What We Consider "Genocide"

Before discussing art, it is important to understand the concept. Genocide, according to the 1948 Convention, involves acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. The dispute over the application of this label to contemporary conflicts is intense: it involves evidence, international law, ethics, and symbolic representations. Many artists in Gaza and beyond argue that certain practices (bombing civilian areas, destruction of infrastructure, starvation, impediment to humanitarian aid, forced displacement) approach or constitute genocide. Art becomes a space for confirmation—that what many deny is experienced by many others.

Art as denunciation, memory, and humanity

1. Denunciation and visibility

* Artists transform everyday materials—UN flour sacks, humanitarian aid boxes, rubble—into canvases of suffering, faces of the dead, destroyed homes. ([Al Jazeera][1])
* For example, the Algerian painter Aboulhak Abina portrays dead Palestinian children to prevent them from being forgotten. Each portrait carries not only pain but also a moral appeal for the world to “see.” ([Daily Sabah][2])
* Groups of young children admitted to clinics, such as in al-Mawasi, use drawing as a way to express the trauma they witnessed—bombings, loss, fear. ([Press TV][3])

2. Symbolic Resistance

* Even without access to traditional artistic materials, artists in Gaza improvise. One example: using food aid boxes or packaging materials to create images that express pain, ruin, but also persistence. ([Al Jazeera][1])
* There are also external solidarity initiatives, exhibitions outside Gaza, to showcase these works and give them international visibility. ([Anadolu Ajansı][4])

3. Memory and Identity

* Preserving faces, names, stories—against the anonymization of the victim that often occurs in superficial media coverage. Art functions as a living archive: canvas, ceramics, photography, illustrations are marks of existence. ([Daily Sabah][2])
* The destruction of museums, galleries, and cultural spaces is also part of the assault not only on the body, but also on collective memory. ([Wikipedia][5])

Challenges and Tensions

a) Aesthetics and Representation of Horror

There is a constant risk that horror will be aestheticized—transformed into an “interesting” image devoid of depth or context. How can we represent pain without turning it into a spectacle? How can we balance respect for victims while avoiding voyeurism? Some critics argue that certain images soften or desensitize—or that they don’t even show raw violence, either through self-censorship or institutional imposition.

b) Censorship, Silencing, and Artistic Discourses

* Author Rana Anani, for example, argues that many Western institutions claim to support “diversity” or “decolonization” in the arts, but cancel or exclude Palestinian artists or advocates who denounce what they consider genocide. ([Institute for Palestine Studies][6])
* There is also more direct repression in Gaza: destruction of studios, lack of internet access, difficulties transporting works, and exhibiting them. Consuming art in Gaza also means facing severe practical obstacles. ([Wikipedia][7])

c) Legitimacy and Contestation

* Not everyone accepts that the term "genocide" should be applied—this generates legal, political, and moral debates. Art inserts itself into this debate, not only reflecting but also provoking: by using this term, by alleging, by denouncing.
* Institutional or state reactions often pressure representations to be "balanced," "fair," or "neutral," which can silence the radical power of accusation and pain.

Social and Political Impact

* Internally, art aids psychological survival: it allows people to express, process, remember, and resist. * Outside of Gaza, the works are part of solidarity campaigns, political mobilization, and awareness-raising among audiences who would otherwise be isolated from the lived experience.
* Art also questions dominant narratives in the media: what is shown, what is omitted, who is portrayed, who is silenced.

Notable examples

Mahasen al-Khateeb**, a Palestinian artist from Jabalia, who denounced the horror she experienced through illustration and design, until her death in a bombing. ([Wikipedia][7])
The exhibition "GAZA" by Antoine Janot** at P21 Gallery, which seeks to confront the public with the ongoing humanitarian crisis. ([p21.gallery][8])
Narratives and thematic proximities** such as "Gaza and a Visual Narrative of Resisting Silence," an essay by Rana Anani that analyzes how Palestinian artists confront erasure—physical, cultural, and symbolic—inside and outside Gaza. ([Institute for Palestine Studies][6])

Possible Paths and Ethics of Art in Extreme Situations

* Art in the context of genocide requires ethics: from those who view it, those who exhibit it, and those who fund it. Care must be taken to avoid exploiting pain.
* Transparency: stating who the artist is, who was affected, and what the context was, to prevent the public from interpreting things outside of reality or trivializing the experience.
* Collaboration and Local Agency: giving a voice to the Palestinians themselves, to the people in Gaza, allowing them to be protagonists of their narratives, not mere objects of pity or curiosity.

Conclusion

In extreme situations like the one many describe in Gaza, art is more than simple representation—it is action. It bears witness, denounces, preserves memory and identity, challenges power through visibility, and preserves the human in the face of dehumanization. While insufficient to prevent deaths or stop bombs, art helps sustain something that many systems try to erase: dignity, existence, the collective body of remembrance.

LATAMARTE
Sources

[1]: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/2/12/art-as-survival-gazas-creators-transform-pain-into-protest?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Art as survival: Gaza’s creators transform pain into protest | Israel-Palestine conflict | Al Jazeera"
[2]: https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/algerian-artist-transforms-gazas-pain-into-powerful-portraits/news?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Algerian artist transforms Gaza’s pain into powerful portraits | Daily Sabah"
[3]: https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/08/28/732236/israeli-genocide-gaza-drawings-children-palestine?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Art and trauma: Israeli genocide in Gaza through eyes of Palestinian children"
[4]: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/resistance-and-resilience-artists-honor-palestinians-facing-horrors-of-israel-s-gaza-genocide/3384990?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Resistance and resilience: Artists honor Palestinians facing horrors of Israel’s Gaza genocide"
[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Qarara_Cultural_Museum?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Al Qarara Cultural Museum"
[6]: https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1657056?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Gaza and a Visual Narrative of Resisting Silence | Institute for Palestine Studies"
[7]: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasen_al-Khatib?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Mahasen al-Khatib"
[8]: https://p21.gallery/artists/gaza-by-antoine-janot?utm_source=chatgpt.com "P21 Gallery - GAZA by Antoine Janot"