Visual Analysis of the This is Not an Exhibition Artistic Demonstration: Motherhood as a Lens
With Amira Salmi, PhD

Monday, October 14th | 14:00-15:30
Location: The Palestinian Museum

The genocidal Zionist apparatus in Gaza has killed more than 10,000 women since October 7th, 2023, including more than 6,000 mothers. The Israeli occupation has always targeted Palestinian mothers, both directly and morally. Today, as the genocidal war on Gaza enters its second year, Palestinian women in Gaza are suffering from the resulting gruelling living conditions, both psychologically and physically. Some have been mourning the tragic loss of their children, husbands, and families, while others, like all Palestinians in Gaza, have lost their homes or sense of safety. Instead, they have been left to eke out a living in refugee tents.

Join us for Salmi's visual analysis of artworks from Gaza that specifically contend with motherhood. Through this lens, we can ponder the most painful and urgent questions before us, such as: How do mothers live during war? What do they feed their children? How do they create safety in a world made of fear? Why, how, and to what extent do Israeli kill machinations target mothers?

Amira Salmi:

Salmi is an assistant Professor at the Institute of Women's Studies (IWS) at Birzeit University. She holds a PhD in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in Gender, Law and Development from Birzeit University. Her research interests include colonial studies, particularly colonial discourse(s); postcolonial studies; anti-colonial writing; and Palestinian and African revolutionary literary writing. She has also written on feminist writing and development discourses.

*Abdel Nasser Amer, Cannot Let Go, 2014. Oil on canvas, 98 x 118 cm.
Courtesy of the Zawyeh Gallery Collection