4.0 Art as Witnessing

Art as a methodology of witnessing creates a way for people to “make sense of their surroundings, to preserve the capacity to think, to engage in political reality” [“Andre Mazawi on art and resistance”]. Art can become an immediate response to and interpretation of what is happening on-the-ground, offering a framework of analysis that academic scholarship would otherwise need years and decades to produce. Art can also be an important method of countering media erasure and dis/misinformation. Journalism often purports to be a conveyor of objective truths, but art gives witnesses a creative way of processing trauma and transmitting personal narrative.

This section of the toolkit features several examples of artwork and artists whose work engages with genocide, ethnic cleansing, war, and trauma. These examples range in medium, including but not limited to Palestinian photographers and filmmakers who have had to adapt their creative craft out of necessity as they effectively document their own genocide.  As writer Sarra Alayyan notes, "If Palestinians feel they have a duty to document the horrors of their genocide and their daily lives under apartheid and occupation in order to assert their existence and humanity—showing their face to a world rendering them faceless—then we who purport to stand with Palestine, must witness the images and footage. To listen to their stories as they share them and as they speak them" ("Depicting Palestine: What it Means to Witness a Genocide.").

Examples

Curated Lists

• "7 Novels and Memoirs about Palestine and Palestinians" (Electric Literature): https://electricliterature.com/a-reading-list-of-palestinian-prose/ 

• "Discover Palestine: 18 Palestinian Writers to Add to Your Reading List" (Boston Public Library): https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/605702968/2419733169 

• "Dive into these 11 Palestinian Fiction Recommendations" (Book Riot): https://bookriot.com/palestinian-fiction/ 

• "Palestinian Voices: A Fiction Collection" (San Francisco Public Library): https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/433865467/2407126239 

• "Read Palestine: narrative fiction, poetry, graphic novels, cookbooks" (Akimbo Books): https://akimbobooks.org/lists/LUNg7gsX3fp8 

Curated Lists

• Arab Film Institute | Commemorating the Nakba Through Cinema: Must Watch Films: https://arabfilminstitute.org/commemorating-the-nakba-through-cinema/ 

• Netflix | Palestinian Stories: https://www.netflix.com/ca/browse/genre/81515124 

• Palestine Films: https://palestinefilms.org/en 

• Palestine Film Institute: https://www.palestinefilminstitute.org/en/pfp/archive 

• Palestine Solidarity Campaign | Films About Palestine: https://palestinecampaign.org/resources/films-about-palestine/ 

• Joe Sacco, comics journalist

  • Palestine (2001) & Footnotes in Gaza (2009), documentary graphic novels about Palestine

• Ellen O'Grady, "How Are We to Live?" (2024), a collection of 19 comics about Palestine

• Malak Mattar: Sitti’s Bird  (2022), a children’s book memoir of a childhood in Gaza

• Cartoonists for Palestine: https://cartoonistsforpalestine.org/ 

Books

• Tippner, Anja and Lindbladh, Johanna. The Art of Witnessing: Documentary Art, Literature, Film and Theatre in Eastern Europe and the Baltics. Central European University Press, 2025.

• Torchin, Leshu. Creating the Witness: Documenting Genocide on Film, Video, and the Internet. University of Minnesota Press, 2012.

Dissertations

• Goto, Ayumi. 共同生活 (kyōdōseikatsu): In the shadows of witnessing. PhD dissertation, Simon Fraser University, 2018. 

• Karim, Roah. Art as Artillery: Art as a Method of Existence and Resistance in Palestine. PhD diss., School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2022.

• Salha, Huda. After the Last Frontiers: Palestine Between Memory and the Anticolonial Art of Resistance. PhD diss., OCAD University, 2020.

Articles

• Fischer, Nina and Kate Mitchell. "Fiction as Counter Memory: Writing Armenia and Palestine in Aline Ohanesian’s Orhan’s Inheritance and Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin." College Literature 48, no. 4 (2021): 738-767. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lit.2021.0044. 

• Hasan, Dana, and Sahera Bleibleh. "The everyday art of resistance: Interpreting" resistancescapes" against urban violence in Palestine." Political Geography 101 (2023): 102833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102833 

• Kerbaj, Mazen, Jana Traboulsi, Zeina Maasri, and Hanan Toukan. "Gaza in Plain Sight: Witnessing in Solidarity." Journal of Visual Culture (2024). https://doi.org/10.1177/14704129241227847 

• Sharpe, Christina. "The Shapes of Grief: Witnessing the Unbearable." The Yale Review 112, no. 3 (2024): 11-22. https://yalereview.org/article/christina-sharpe-shapes-of-grief 

Public Writing

• "A song of existence: Mohammed Assaf’s “Dammi Falastini” and rebellion against colonization," Berkley B-side, 3 April, 2023. https://berkeleybside.com/a-song-of-existence-mohammed-assafs-dammi-falastini-and-rebellion-against-colonization/ 

• Alayyan, Sarra. "Depicting Palestine: What It Means to Witness a Genocide." Atmos. 12 June 2024.  https://atmos.earth/why-we-must-witness-the-palestinian-genocide/ 

• "Butt, Noor. "Chroniclers of Conflict: Witnessing Palestine at the Intersection of Global Politics and Visual Culture." The Karachi Collective. 8 August 2024. https://thekarachicollective.com/chroniclers-of-conflict-witnessing-palestine-at-the-intersection-of-global-politics-and-visual-culture/ 

• Elena, Pérez Elena. "The story of Israel and Palestine in comic strips." The Conversation. 19 October 2023. https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-israel-and-palestine-in-comic-strips-215867. 

• Jilani, Sarah, "Ahlam Shibli Bears Witness For, and With, Palestinian Lives." Art Review. 11 June 2024. https://artreview.com/ahlam-shibli-bears-witness-for-and-with-palestinian-lives/ 

• Lee, Diana Seo Hyung. "On Witnessing Art, Death, and Palestine." Asian American Arts Alliance. 21 May 2024. https://www.aaartsalliance.org/magazine/stories/on-witnessing-art-death-and-palestine 

• Mazowita, Amy. "Representing Gaza: Artists are using social media-based comics as resources and resistance." The Conversation. 12 May 2024.  https://theconversation.com/representing-gaza-artists-are-using-social-media-based-comics-as-resources-and-resistance-226881. 

• Nguyen, Viet Thanh. "Viet Nam, Gaza, and the Power of Spectacle." Zeteo. 17 September 2024. https://zeteo.com/p/viet-nam-gaza-and-the-power-of-spectacle  

• Rogaly, Ben. "Yiddish songs of struggle and resistance: resources for our times?" Critical Legal Thinking, 24 April, 2024. https://criticallegalthinking.com/2024/04/24/yiddish-songs-of-struggle-and-resistance-resources-for-our-times/ 

• Tbakhi, Fargo. "Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide." Protean Magazine. 8 December 2023. https://proteanmag.com/2023/12/08/notes-on-craft-writing-in-the-hour-of-genocide/