Art in Ruins: Gaza Artists Bring Resistance and Persistence to Leeds – Interview

Prints by Mohamed Harb and Ayman Essa, Art in Ruins exhibition. Image Credit: Artists Supporting Palestine.

Leeds Palestinian Film Festival and HEART are joining forces with artist-led initiative Artists Supporting Palestine to bring ‘Art in Ruins: Persistence and Resistance’ to Leeds. Closing this year’s festival on 6 December, the event combines three short films exploring how art becomes a form of persistence and resistance in the face of attempted erasure, with an exhibition of works by five artists from Gaza. TSOTA spoke with ASP co-creator Gavin (Gav) McIntosh about the origins of the initiative, creating this exhibition in collaboration with renowned Gazan artist and filmmaker Mohamed Harb, and the power of connecting activism, art, and community across Leeds.  

ASP launched early in 2024 in response to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. The process is simple: artists list a work on Instagram, supporters donate the equivalent of the work’s price  to the initiative’s JustGiving page, send proof of donation, and receive the artwork in return. “It gives artists a way of standing in solidarity with Palestine, and it gives collectors a way to donate and receive an original work of art in return,” Gav explains. 

Gav, an abstract painter, has engaged with Palestinian activism for several years. “Well before October 7th I was using my work to reference what was happening, like Israel’s so called pre-emptive strikes, the administrative detention of civilians including children without charge, the murder of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and in general the terrible treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied territories.” The initiative emerged after October 7th: “We knew Israel was going to unleash hell – they literally said that. So I and a few incredible artists I’d connected with on Instagram said, why don’t we just set something up? Within four weeks we had a fundraising page, a website, and an Instagram account.”

Image Credit: Artists Supporting Palestine.

The initial target was modest — “£1,000 and maybe a handful of artists” — but the project rapidly grew. “Now we’ve got hundreds of artists from 35 countries, and we’ve raised £85,000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians. The money is a drop in the ocean compared to what’s needed, but the value of the community is enormous. The most important thing we do is to play a small part in normalising opposition to what Israel is doing and normalising solidarity with Palestine.”

The collaboration between ASP, the Palestinian Film Festival, and HEART began after the initiative’s first physical exhibition this summer at Studio 1.1 in Shoreditch. The show featured 400 works by 200 artists, alongside poetry readings, music, and open mics, with all proceeds going to Medical aid for Palestinians.

Off the back of that success, ‘Art in Ruins’ curator Mohamed Harb contacted Gav to ask if ASP could help organise another exhibition of work by artists from Gaza, and the screening of one of his films. Gav contacted HEART and Leeds Palestinian Film Festival to see if they would be interested in hosting an exhibition and screening a film. Coincidentally, at the same time, Leeds Palestinian Film Festival was planning a closing event on art in Palestine at HEART, and were keen to include a film by Mohamed in the programme. “It was like all the stars aligned,” Gav reflects. “Everyone was immediately on board, which was so touching, because I’ve become used to organisations getting nervous or hostile in relation to Palestine, even during this genocide.”

Mohamed Harb. Image Credit: Artists Supporting Palestine.

Mohamed has now completed his film, ready for what we believe will be its world premiere in Leeds on 6 December at HEART. He’s hoping to also record an introductory video so audiences can meet him. The exhibition is now showing in the HEART Café until 19 December. “The challenge with an event like this is reaching people beyond the usual community,” Gav says. “But the café is a place people go to eat, to chat, to unwind — so they’ll encounter it without having to make a conscious decision to seek out something about Palestine. I’m really hoping the exhibition inspires these people to learn more.”

Describing the artworks, Gav highlights their general lack of literal depictions of violence and occupation. Rather, the works draw on rich symbolism, referencing land, community, culture and spirit. For example Ayman Essa’s stylised portraits of women set against blue backgrounds, or Mohamed’s interiors that reference the landscape and the fish that symbolise both Palestine’s natural abundance and the engineered scarcity caused by Israel’s blockade. Gav suggests that the resistance in these pieces is shown in their not allowing the occupation to define their content. “The artists are producing art relevant to their context, but on their own terms, with their own artistic voices.”

Because the original works cannot be transported from Gaza, the show features prints — a decision rooted in the reality of the genocide rather than curatorial preference. “Instead of pretending this is a polished white-wall exhibition, we’re foregrounding these terrible circumstances,” Gav says. “The prints hang from nails and bulldog clips on little wooden blocks made from off cuts found in my studio. Makeshift, as if pulled from rubble.”

Prints by Mohamad Alfarra, Art in Ruins exhibition. Image Credit: Artists Supporting Palestine.

Each of the five artists will show five pieces, with prints of each available for £25. Online print-on-demand orders will run for the duration of the exhibition, and HEART are waiving the usual 20% commission so all proceeds go directly to the artists. The urgency of that support is clear: “Mohamed has been burning stretcher bars to boil water and bartering paintings for flour — but he persists in his artistic creation, painting and making films whenever possible. The drive to keep making work in a time of destruction is their way of saying: this is who we are, and if we lose this, we lose ourselves.”

Bringing ‘Art in Ruins’ to Leeds is therefore not only about fundraising, but about sustaining solidarity. “This event has connected so many strands of local activism — HEART, Leeds Palestinian Film Festival, Hyde Park Art Club — none of it planned, and all of it reminding you that there are hundreds of people in your own community who feel the same urgency and care.”

Mohamed Harb. Image Credit: Artists Supporting Palestine.

A final reflection brings together the event’s focus on community, film, and visual art. “Paintings are great for providing a different perspective on things by offering space for contemplation, slow looking, and reflection,” Gav says. “Film, on the other hand, offers chronology, narrative, emotional immediacy, and powerful visuals — a way of stepping into someone else’s reality. There are many ways to have a human response to what’s happening in Palestine, and both of these artforms are vital for generating empathy. By combining them, I hope we help to maintain that humanity.” 

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‘Art in Ruins’ is showing now at HEART in Headingley. Tickets for the closing event – screening the selected films alongside the exhibited works — are available for 6 December at 6:30pm.

For more information about Leeds Palestinian Film Festival, read Millie’s interview with co-directors Frances and Helena.