All Eyes on Palestine exhibition in Athens: An artistic call to look, remember, and resist in the face of oppression

As Gaza endures widespread devastation and the threat of silence grows — even amid a ceasefire — the opening of the exhibition All Eyes on Palestine in Athens arrives at a crucial time.

Not only does the exhibition highlight the resilience of Palestinian culture under siege, but it also calls on members of the public to look, remember, and resist in the face of ongoing Israeli oppression against Palestinians.

Curated by Italian curator of Greek descent, Elettra Stamboulis, and supported by Greek artist and activist Danae Stratou and Greek-Palestinian artist Doris Hakim, in collaboration with DiEM25 and mέta, the exhibition features around 20 Palestinian artists from Gaza, the West Bank, and the diaspora, all born between the two Intifadas.

And their aim is? To articulate lived experiences of loss, survival, and resistance across a wide range of mediums — including painting, sculpture, installation, digital media, and performance.

As the exhibition continues through December and January, The New Arab caught up with the curators and artists to learn more about the project.

Elettra Stamboulis: The power of 're-membering' and 're-hearting'

"I was inspired to work on this exhibition, most of all, by the perversion of false equivalence," Elettra begins.

"Until a few years ago, you couldn't hold an exhibition or an event with a Palestinian artist without also inviting an Israeli one, as if the gallery or museum were a negotiation table. This aspect had imposed itself on the table of cultural planning. Alternatively, artists from elsewhere had to be questioned — those who were expected to mobilise for Palestine. The table had to be overturned," she shares with The New Arab.

Reflecting on her choice of artists for the exhibition, she says, "I chose these artists to show those who have taken less direct, more winding paths, with a wide range of work, from video art to comics. Most importantly, I wanted to show how much creativity and innovation exist within the complex Palestinian nebula. I am drawn to artists who challenge stereotypes and expectations — those who, for example, explore moving beyond victimhood."

In short, for Elettra, the primary goal of curating this exhibition was "to bring to light the very existence of contemporary Palestinian art."

Elettra also reflects on the role of art in unimaginable circumstances, saying, "I have learned that it is possible to make art under any circumstances. In fact, it is art itself that allows us to remain human in unimaginable crises, such as the genocide in Gaza."

Drawing on her family history, she adds, "I am the daughter and granddaughter of people who experienced exile, internment, and concentration camps. Yet each time, we must 're-member', which is, after all, the etymological meaning of the word 'remember', and we must 're-heart'."

While acknowledging that it is impossible to confront catastrophe all the time, Elettra emphasises the need to return to it, saying, "We need to bring it back to our hearts, every time."

She also speaks of calling not only for the creation of a Palestinian state, but for "a true Palestine Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. It is urgent," Elettra stresses. 

Mahmoud Alhaj: Transforming destruction into testimony

Turning to their own work, the artists reflect on what participating in All Eyes on Palestine means to them.

For Mahmoud Alhaj, a Gazan artist with a BA in journalism who has worked as an art teacher at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society since 2017, the exhibition represents both connection and visibility.

He explains that it allows his voice, "first as a human being and then as an artist," to extend beyond the confines of "a controlled geography."

Ultimately, for Mahmoud, presenting Palestinian art on international platforms is "as much an act of resistance as it is an act of narrating life."

Adding to this, Mahmoud stresses that he sees his work as part of a wider collective effort.

He describes participating in the exhibition as "writing a new chapter of collective memory," where individual experiences of displacement, survival, and the search for meaning are transformed into a shared visual language, giving him the sense that Palestinians, despite dispersal, continue "to build a narrative long suppressed and distorted — not as victims, but as individuals capable of producing knowledge, beauty, and vision."

He also emphasises the personal and historical dimensions of his art, hoping that his work conveys "the profound sense that a Palestinian is not just an 'image,' but a self with a history, a family, a language, a memory, and a right to dream."

In addition, Mahmoud notes that he wants future generations to inherit "a visual and intellectual legacy that testifies to the Palestinian resistance, not only through force but also through knowledge, and through the ability to transform destruction into documentation, concrete into testimony, and digital images into a space for reshaping existence."

That being said, whilst memory and place are central to Mahmoud's artistic practice, he reflects on the delicate connection to the vanished landscapes of Gaza, explaining that his work seeks to preserve "the houses that vanished, the trees that were cut down, the roads that were altered, and the neighbourhoods that were erased."

These small details, he explains, are "the essence of identity," and through his art, he strives to show that memory is not only what is retained, but also what is recreated "despite the ongoing attempts at erasure."

Duaa Qishta: Documenting beyond suffering 

As for Duaa Qishta, a Gazan visual artist living in Paris, participating in All Eyes on Palestine is "an act of resistance."

"It means that our voices, scattered across the world, still converge around the same wound and the same hope," Duaa tells The New Arab.

She adds that collaborating with artists from different places highlights the diversity of Palestinian experiences. "Sharing space with artists from various places reminds me that Palestine is not a single narrative but a constellation of lived experiences, each illuminating a different facet of resilience.

"My participation is a way of stitching my own thread into a larger fabric of cultural survival, reminding the world that despite displacement, fragmentation, and attempts at erasure, Palestinian creativity continues to breathe, insist, and speak."

She also highlights that her work is guided by emotional truth rather than didactic explanations, emphasising that it emerges from "the experience of exile, the weight of surviving three wars, and the daily negotiation between personal memory and political reality."

Duaa adds that even viewers unfamiliar with Palestinian history can connect first with "the human pulse behind the image — the vulnerability, irony, and quiet defiance embedded within the work."

Finally, she notes the deeper intention behind her art: "I want viewers to feel that Palestinian art is not only about documenting suffering, but about reclaiming humanity.

"Through symbolism, satire, and magical realism, I invite them into the inner landscape of what it means to be Palestinian today — where memory is both a burden and a compass, where resistance often happens in silence, where existence itself becomes a declaration, and where imagining a future is an act of courage despite the weight of the present."

Other artists featured in the exhibition, in addition to Mahmoud and Duaa, include Mahasen Al-Khateeb (in memoriam), Shadi Alzaqzouq, Rana Bishara, Doris Hakim, Raed Issa, Monther Jawabreh, Mohammed Joha, Manal Mahamid, Mohammad Saba'aneh, Shada Safadi, Shareef Sarhan, Basel Zaraa, and Hani Zurob.

Note that the exhibition will be accompanied by a podcast featuring interviews with the participating artists and, after its run in Athens from 12 December 2025 to 25 January 2026, will travel to European locations including the Netherlands and Italy.

For more information, click here.

[Cover photo: Bayan Abu Nahla, Endless Episodes (2025), acrylic on canvas]

Zainab Mehdi is The New Arab's Associate Editor and researcher specialising in governance, development, and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa region 

Follow her on Instagram: @zaiamehdi_/@zainabmehdiwrites_