Brescia, an exhibition of works by the Palestinian collective Eltiqa

Brescia, an exhibition of works by the Palestinian collective Eltiqa that survived the bombing of Gaza

At the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia, from November 8, 2025, to February 22, 2026, the exhibition Material for an Exhibition brings together works by the Palestinian collective Eltiqa and international artists in a dialogue about the role of art in conflicts and the memories that resist destruction.

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From November 8, 2025, to February 22, 2026, the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia hosts Material for an Exhibition. Stories, memories, and struggles of Palestine and the Mediterranean: an exhibition curated by Sara Alberani that ideally reconstructs the artistic space of the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art, destroyed in the 2023 bombing of Gaza. Promoted by the City of Brescia and the Musei di Brescia Foundation, with sponsorship from Amnesty Italy, the exhibition is one of the central events of the eighth edition of the Peace Festival. The project was created in response to the destruction of Eltiqa, a symbolic space for Palestinian contemporary art founded in 2002 and a point of reference for artists in Gaza. Two of its founders, Mohammed Al-Hawajri (1976) and Dina Mattar (1985), are among the featured artists in the exhibition, along with Lebanese artist Haig Aivazian (1980) and Palestinian artist Emily Jacir (1970), winner of the Golden Lion at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Their works, originating from areas marked by war, exile, and fragmentation, are brought together in Brescia to offer a collective testament to cultural resistance and art's capacity to forge connections between the diverse geographies of the Mediterranean.

“Exhibiting the works of the Eltiqa Group of Contemporary Art that survived destruction at the

Santa Giulia Museum, and offering Mohammed Al-Hawajri and Dina Mattar an artistic residency in our city,” states Laura Castelletti, Mayor of Brescia, “means recognizing that art is a testament, a builder of connections, a tool for mutual understanding. Thanks to their works and those of Haig Aivazian and Emily Jacir, we can understand how creative expression is a space of resilience even in the most dramatic contexts. 'Material for an Exhibition' invites us to look beyond simplified narratives to learn the stories and lives of those who experience conflict daily, reminding us that culture is always a bridge between different worlds and that precisely for this reason we can and must, as cities but also as individuals, act to safeguard and protect the cultural heritage of all communities, as a precious legacy that unites humanity beyond geographical and temporal boundaries. The exhibition represents a crucial moment of the Peace Festival and bears witness to the great The quality of our museum system, capable of proposing initiatives of international scope, is at the service of an idea of art as a promotion of peace, respect among people, and the discovery of new cultural horizons.”

The exhibition title pays homage to

Emily Jacir’s work, Material for a Film, dedicated to the memory of the Palestinian poet Wael Zuaiter. Material becomes a key word here: it indicates both the variety of languages on display—installations, video, drawings, painting, photography—and the concrete and fragile dimension in which many artists operate, amidst the loss of archives, the destruction of works, and the erasure of places of memory. In Palestine, the archive itself is today an instrument of survival, a way of affirming the existence of a threatened history. The exhibition opens with works by Mohammed Al-Hawajri and Dina Mattar, who, along with Eltiqa, have promoted the growth of contemporary art in Gaza for twenty years. Following the 2023 bombing, the two artists managed to save some works, now housed in Sharjah and Dubai, and presented for the first time in Europe.
The rescued works arrive in Brescia as a testament to a legacy that resists destruction. The museum thus becomes a place of symbolic reconstruction: Eltiqa is temporarily reborn within its walls. Mohammed Al-Hawajri explores in his work the relationship between historical memory and everyday Palestinian life. His canvases, characterized by irony and paradox, transform images of war into visual narratives that blend pain and imagination. Series such as The Animal Farm (2011) and Maryam (2015) intertwine symbols of resistance and cultural references, with human and animal figures that become witnesses to survival.

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