If every thing had gone to plan, Mohammed Almadhoun would have spent the final month portray landscapes in blues and greens and portraits in browns and reds someplace 1000’s of miles from house.
The 44-year-old visible artist from the Gaza Strip was to fly to Eire’s Burren School of Artwork for a monthlong artist residency. As an alternative, he finds himself languishing in a warzone, caught at a border on the behest of an occupying state.
His flight was scheduled for October 7 – the identical day Hamas launched its surprise incursion on Israel, which started a retaliatory bombardment of Gaza instantly.
Now Almadhoun has been at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt – the one manner out of the besieged enclave – for almost so long as the conflict itself.
For the final 45 days, the artist, who acquired his visa to journey to Eire in September, has been ready to see if he can depart. However overseas nationals and critically wounded Palestinians stay the vast majority of the individuals allowed out.
“So drained. We’re in an unspeakable humanitarian disaster,” Almadhoun instructed Al Jazeera wearily.
A visa as lifeline
Eire has been one in all few Western nations criticising Israel’s assault, owing to a protracted historical past of solidarity in assist of Palestinian rights as a consequence of a shared historical past of occupation.
Officers at Burren School of Artwork have been making an attempt to assist the artist for weeks, contacting a number of embassies in Egypt, Israel and Eire, in response to its admissions director, Lisa Newman.
“We have now turn into an necessary lifeline for him via our connection to his Irish visa and are doing every thing inside our capability to assist him,” Newman instructed Al Jazeera.
Almadhoun is effectively conscious of this solidarity, his keep on the Irish school meant to hyperlink “the heritage and tradition between the 2 nations”, he mentioned.
“The [Irish] individuals, the Irish authorities, are among the many first to assist and present solidarity with the Palestinian trigger, materially and morally,” Almadhoun added.
![Thousands are sheltering at the Rafah border](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-11-14-at-12.12.26-PM-1700653072.jpeg?w=770&resize=770%2C556)
‘A tragic life inside’
The artist, who hails from northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, left for the Rafah border crossing on October 9, paying a big sum to rent a automotive to take him south over roads made unsafe by Israeli shelling, he mentioned.
He left his household behind. He can’t return to be with them once more and so they additionally can’t depart because of the relentless bombing.
His studio, with all his work spanning 25 years, was additionally destroyed within the bombings, now decreased to rubble, he mentioned.
“It’s besiegement from in every single place, plane and tanks, bombing and destroying across the clock,” Almadhoun mentioned.
The internationally recognised artist, who was additionally scheduled to take part in a global artwork pageant and one other creative residency in Portugal, stays in limbo.
Almadhoun has been sheltering in a United Nations college on the border, which he describes as “a tragic life” with 1000’s sleeping in stairwells, corridors and even loos.
Accessing meals and water is each scarce and costly, he mentioned, including: “The tragic scenario is unimaginable.”
![Almadhoun's 2017 art titled "The desert Bedouins"](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/11التقاء-Copy-1-1700652951.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C505)
Artists as ambassadors
Nonetheless, Almadhoun stays hopeful he’ll quickly have the ability to journey and signify Palestinians via his artwork, the rationale he turned an artist.
“I made a decision to turn into an artist to convey a message via artwork to the world concerning the painful occasions, concerning the struggling of our Palestinian individuals from persecution, injustice, killing, displacement and siege over a few years,” he mentioned.
Artists are ambassadors of their nations, Almadhoun mentioned, and he hopes he could be one voice placing stress on authorities to finish Israel’s assault on Gaza.
“My future hopes are that the unjust siege will probably be lifted, and [our] individuals could have sovereignty over their land, and there will probably be freedom to journey … and ship the message of Palestine’s love of life and wonder,” he mentioned.