i witness silwan murals
i witness silwan murals
Home of Umm Nasser and her family, who face an eviction order in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Loo paints with I Witness Silwan director Susan Greene to create a mural on the home of a Batn al-Hawa community leader. Summer 2022.
Mural of a beloved holy site that Palestinians are often restricted from visiting. Dweik family home in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Fall 2022.
A farmer from Dayr el-Assad, outside of Akka, who witnessed the Nakba. Image by Palestinian-American artist John Halaka from his project ‘Faces from Erased Places.’ Batn al-Hawa, Fall 2019.
Sits in front of his mural-painted home in Batn al-Hawa. Zuheir is an activist who represents Silwan in revealing the injustices perpetuated against Palestinians living there. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Fadwa Tuqan, Ghassan Kanafani, Nizar Banat, Naji al-Ali, Shireen Abu Akleh. Painted in Ayin a-Loza, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Several murals can be seen in the neighborhood’s hillside. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Local girl paints on the home of Umm Nasser in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2020.
Local boy sits on a ladder with a mural of the eyes of Eyad al-Hallak in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. 2020.
Fellow project coordinators & artists with the project paint a mural in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Mural on the home of Abu Seif’s differently-abled sister, that he asked us to paint so that she could see something beautiful every day. Spring 2022.
Mural on the home of Abu Seif’s differently-abled sister, that he asked us to paint so that she could see something beautiful every day. Spring 2022.
Mural of revered Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in 2022 by the IOF in Jenin. Ayin a-Loza, Summer 2022.
The main street of the neighborhood, now painted with several murals. 2020.
Manar, Loo and Jenan work on the al-Aqsa mural in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Fall 2022.
Of Indigenous Lumad leader and activist Bai Bibyaon, and of a local youth. Batn al-Hawa, 2020. Photo by Kobi Wolf.
Local youth paints in her neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Paints a mural on the home of Umm Nasser in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Bayan Rajibi.
An elder woman paints in her neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
A few of the project’s team members prepare to work on a mural in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Team members Chris Gazaleh and Loo work with local youth to paint a mural in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
On the home of Umm Nasser and family, Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2020.
Beloved local elder paints on her home in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. 2020.
Team members paint on the home of Zuheir Rajibi in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Batn al-Hawa, Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Palestinian-American artist paints on a semi-demolished home in Ayin a-Loza, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Local girl participates in a youth mural project in her neighborhood of Batn al-Hawa. The youth painted a large-scale word “hurriyah,” meaning freedom in Arabic. Summer 2022.
Local youth work on the ‘Freedom Mural’ in their neighborhood of Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Participates in the youth project “Freedom Mural” in Batn al Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Participates in the youth project “Freedom Mural” in Batn al Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022.
“Freedom Mural” youth project in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Local youth paint their neighborhood of Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Paint sprays a semi-demolished home in Ayin a-Loza, Silwan. Summer 2022.
I Witness Silwan’s director paints the portrait of a slain Palestinian boy in Wadi Hilweh. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Local girl smiles by a recently painted mural on the home of Umm Nasser in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2020.
Palestinian-American artist Chris Gazaleh designs and paints a mural in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Team member Sarra Ewaida works on a mural in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Mural outside of the community center in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Local girl holds a pigeon outside a mural of the national bird of Palestine. Batn al-Hawa, Silwan.
Drying paint containers in the sun to reuse them to mix new colors. Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2022.
Working on a community project in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Local girl participates in a youth project in her neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Participates in the painting of a youth mural in his neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
The team and local youth work together to create a mural representative of Palestinian olive oil making. Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Local youth participate in painting a mural in their neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Chris and Mayar paint a mural in the neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Loo repairs a mural of the national bird of Palestine in Batn al-Hawa. Jadallah and the boys assist to hand her materials via ropes from the rooftop. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
View of the neighborhood of Batn al-Hawa with a mural of the eyes of community member Nihad Siam looking back. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Local boy paints on his family home in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan. Summer 2020.
Two elder women exchange paint brushes while painting a community mural in their neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Summer 2022. Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh.
Door of the local library in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. It serves the community with books, workshops and a space to gather. 2020.
Portraits of Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani and Naji al-Ali in the Edward Said Library of Wadi Hilweh. 2021.
Portraits of Radwa Ashour, Rim Banna and Sheikh Imam inside the Edward Said Library of Wadi Hilweh. 2021.
Mural in honor of the Cuban revolutionary. Batn al-Hawa, 2020.
Since 2019, Rozner has worked as Project Coordinator & Artist with the Palestinian-centered grassroots community art project, I Witness Silwan — a partnership between the Madaa Creative Center and the Art Forces. I Witness Silwan utilizes art to raise voices of the oppressed by creating large-scale murals of eyes that stare out from the neighborhoods of Silwan, Occupied East Jerusalem toward the Old City — a center of culture and spirituality for many, but at the same time a highly militarized area in which the Israeli Occupation Forces attempt to hide their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in plain sight. The eyes murals interrogate those who visit the tourist and archeological centers in and around the Old City to open their eyes and look back at what they’re seeing — to ask questions beyond the narratives they’re told by Israeli tourist, settler and media agencies. The project seeks to elevate the history and stories of Palestinians in their ancestral homelands as they face forced expulsions by the aforementioned agencies, Jerusalem Municipality and the IOF.
I Witness Silwan utilizes community-created visual art to transmit powerful messages that connect the struggle for Palestinian liberation to the greater global movement of seeking justice for all oppressed people. These murals are envisioned together by the neighborhoods’ residents and the team of I Witness Silwan. Murals are installed on homes that have demolition or eviction orders, that can be seen strategically from afar, and that engage any local — from youth to elders — to co-create what their neighborhoods look like through art in spite of occupation. I Witness Silwan amplifies the power of art to resist the forces of oppression and demand rights for Palestinians through visual language as an alternative method of approaching viewers from all walks of life with the aim that others will hear the call to reveal injustice and stand in solidarity.