Olive Branch (Limited Edition Series)

2025, watercolour

There are few words that adequately describe how it has felt watching the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank take place in real time. Heartbreaking, devastating, and horrific all come to mind, but they don’t fully capture the weight of the situation. I feel like I have been torn apart. And I know that this is insignificant compared to what Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank (and even those across the world) are experiencing on a daily basis.

As a queer, disabled person, I think a lot about the queer and/or disabled Palestinians living under occupation without freedom to be their true selves and without access to appropriate medical treatments and disability supports. As an artist, I think of the artists of Palestine, with limited capacity to express themselves creatively; I think of the photographers and journalists who are documenting their people’s life under siege so that the rest of the world may know the truth. And as a human being, I think of all Gazans – my fellow human beings – living in conditions that no one should have to endure for any amount of time.

Painting the same thing twenty times over was a really meaningful process for me. It served as a container to hold a small piece of our collective grief. The repetitive brushstrokes facilitated a meditation: my hands bringing to life the branches of the sacred olive tree and the olive leaf pattern of the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh; my mind quiet.

The sale of each of these limited edition paintings supports Neighbours For Palestine Waterloo Region and Palestinian Youth Movement Toronto.

Long live the resistance. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.