Young Palestinian Jerusalem Artists Rise to the Moment by Forming a Growing Art Collective

In an environment marred by confinement, digital surveillance, and ongoing political fracture, young Palestinians in Jerusalem are finding ways to collectively examine, challenge, and confront these structures of dominance and control.

Eitar, an initiative that gained prominence in 2024 and 2025, is one such example. It has brought together aspiring young Jerusalem artists to gather fragments of memory, place, and feeling, weaving them into reflective artworks that share, witness, and understand. Essentially, they are piecing together what words alone cannot convey.

The Arabic word eitar, or “framework,” is the name these young artists have given their youth-led initiative seeking to provide space and carve meaning out of their reality.

Two young volunteers, Noran Joulani and Alaa Badran, the main initiators of Eitar, don’t yet think of themselves as founders: “It’s a collective force,” Noran explains.1 There are more than 30 volunteer members (students, artists, and contributors) actively involved in the activities.

Eitar was born in 2021 from the question “What is our role as artists in these times?” This was after the coronavirus pandemic, when young art graduates in Jerusalem were feeling scattered and abandoned. Not only did they feel a sense of loss, but there was also an absence of safe spaces for Palestinians to express themselves authentically in unfiltered ways, and in their own language, Arabic. “We wanted to create something that resembled us,” Noran explains. “We were faintly aware of one another but longed to unite as a cohesive group.”

Twenty-four-year-old Noran, from al-Tur neighborhood, is the youngest of the group, but her pivotal role cannot be underestimated. After Eitar’s initial meeting in 2021, the group members agreed that young artists, whatever their capacity, have the duty to help each other. They emphasized that it was crucial to foster a culture of dialogue among themselves, while encouraging the exchange of creative and production tools. The members thus began to prepare a series of workshops and dialogues, creating platforms for exhibitions and artistic exposure.

With the support and mentorship of key influential artists, such as Rawan Sharaf, Bisan Abu Eisheh, Manar Idrissi, Hamada Maddah, Abed Shabaneh, Essa Grayeb, and Noor Abu Arafeh—to name only a few—the founders of Eitar found the vertebra needed to implement their artistic endeavors.

After meetings and conversations, the British Council in Jerusalem (on Nablus Road) offered the group part of its space, which they renovated and turned into an inviting creative place. Other organizations, such as the Palestinian Art Court—al-Hoash, Yabous Cultural Centre, Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research, and Marsam 301, have also welcomed Eitar, providing spaces for its meetings.

On May 15, 2023, the team sent out an open call for young artists and new creatives to join a 10-week program that brought together the artists in an interactive environment.

Eitar’s members correctly estimated that art students, especially those keen to fulfill voluntary/training hours, would be those most interested in participating. The program offered the opportunity for art graduates and students in their final academic year to participate in dialogues, art workshops, film screenings, and exhibitions. Thirteen emerging artists and new graduates were selected to receive a total of four months of guidance, participating in weekly meetings, lectures, and workshops with Palestinian artists in visual arts, design, film production, architecture, and photography.

The program had an important impact on the developing careers of the participants. Shortly after, Eitar opened a call for round two of the program, selecting 5 out of the 13 emerging artists. This time, however, the artists had prepared their portfolios and were getting ready to initiate their own personal exhibitions.

Between the end of 2024 and early 2025, Eitar sponsored six solo exhibitions, all held at the British Council in Jerusalem. The first was in October 2024, by Morjan Ghanayem, titled Angelsx4, curated by Abed Shabaneh. In this series of works, Ghanayem explored the du‘a (prayer) for the deceased, a supplication made during the funeral prayer. This was an experimental journey, contemplating the departure of life. Morjan provided visual aids for navigating the path between life and death.

In all solo exhibitions, artists enjoyed the liberty of sharing their personal stories. At Morjan’s first solo exhibition, team members reflected on how her personal artwork likely helped her find ways to heal from the death of her sister, Hiba, who suffered from disabilities and passed away at age 24. They also shared that, on the day of her exhibition, missile strikes, artillery shelling, and aerial bombing were underway due to Israeli attacks on nearby Gaza and Lebanon, yet Eitar decided to go ahead with the exhibition regardless.2

The second solo exhibition, in November 2024, was by Shaima Sheikh Ali, titled Inescapable, curated by Bisan Abu Eisheh. In this display, Shaima used her talents in sculpture, installation, and video art to create a unique immersive experience. As an artist with disabilities, Shaima artistically shared her internal and existential struggle with feelings of helplessness and disability. In doing so, she sought to transcend her own inner chaos and personal boundaries, while allowing observers to be fully immersed and engaged in her experience in a way that makes them partners in salvation.

The third solo exhibition, also in November 2024, was by Dalleh Tarabey, curated by Rawan Sharaf and titled No One Could Extinguish Her Fire. These works were based on anecdotes from Palestinian folklore and tales that the artist gathered from lost ancestral dreams and fears experienced during the horrors of war. The artist dared to use her own body as a still corpse in the portrayal, evoking images of violated Palestinian bodies in colonized spaces. Dalleh, who is from Shafa ‘Amr in the Lower Galilee, was herself not able make it to Jerusalem for her exhibition, due to instability and closures restricting movement, but she joined the opening via video, with the assistance of curator Rawan Sharaf.

Dalleh continued to play an influential role in Eitar, most visibly through a workshop she conducted in May 2025 at the Palestinian Art Court—al-Hoash, in cooperation with the A. M. Qattan Foundation, entitled There’s a Story in My Pouch. At this workshop, she shared how she turns everyday personal stories into written accounts.

In December 2024, Nadim Mazen launched Eitar’s fourth solo exhibition, titled El-Haj, also curated by Rawan Sharaf. The performance art gave Nadim the chance to honor the loss of his father, (Hajj) Mazen Bazbaz. Mazen’s father was a well-known cultural personality—he was one of the founders of Yabous Cultural Centre and El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe. He was also critical to Nadim’s involvement in arts and culture. The work was an homage but also invited in anyone who had lost someone precious to death. The performance brought back the memories of the deceased and opened space to mourn loss and express love.

The exhibition was like a ceremony, Nadim says, where he shone a light on his father, who had passed away two years prior. Nadim’s own family—who seldom, if at all, attend his art exhibitions—showed up in great numbers, almost like it was a second funeral.

The fifth solo exhibition kicked off in January 2025 with Noor Jbaren’s Unknown 781, offering installation artwork and oil on canvas, curated by Manar Idrissi. This artwork examined how wars and oppressive systems of dominance and control turn the faces of human beings into mere numbers, all the while removing any essence of life. This work was an existential call for documenting, reflecting, wondering, and seriously considering the impact of loss and deformity, while exposing how human life is reshaped and removed invisibly.

At the sixth solo exhibition, launched in February 2025, skilled sculptor Obayda Dahleh brought to life works in Exiled Spring, curated by Bisan Abu Eisheh. The show offered a visual journey across parts of historic Palestine, whereby the artist ventures to make sense of identity. Obayda examined the impact of being seen as an “outsider” as a result of geographical fragmentation and erasure—as exemplified in his personal experience of being from the town of Tur‘an, in the Lower Galilee. Processing these ideas, the artist dared to reawaken lived narratives.

Upon finalizing all six solo exhibitions, the artists and members of Eitar met again in early 2025 to discuss how to proceed in their creative endeavors.

This launched their first collective exhibition on April 12, 2025, at Yabous Cultural Centre in Jerusalem. The exhibition, titled Ma Bayn, featured six artists: Giovanni Facouseh, Darina Jabr, Sondos Badran, Moaiad Rajabi, Nawal Idkaidek, and Nawal Amer. Manar Idrissi was curator, and Alaa Badran (Eitar’s cofounder) assistant curator.

Ma Bayn translates to “in between.” When asked about its meaning, the team stressed that they are preserving Arabic as the collective’s main language of use (all works named here have been translated from Arabic). They seek to remain authentic to their mother tongue, anchored in Palestinian roots and origins. Ma Bayn, as they explain it, suggests the spaced transitions that Eitar has undergone since its conception: from an idea to a reality; from solo exhibitions to group exhibitions; from a notion to an institutionalized entity.

Besides the transition of the group itself, Ma Bayn also refers conceptually to the creative process of artistic transformation: from blank page to painted canvas, from longing to confronting, and ultimately, from life to death.

Nadim Mazen, projects coordinator at Yabous Cultural Centre and team member of Eitar, was among those attending the April 2025 event. He explains that although some members like himself are connected to certain organizations, Eitar as an entity is independent. “There is no institutional monopoly whatsoever,” he emphasizes:3 “Eitar is quite simple and inclusive. Each person has been contributing to the collective work as per their skillset and knowledge, be it in writing, design, renovation, or any other needed work.”

A noteworthy member of the team whose work was also featured in the collective exhibition is Darina Jabr, visual artist and designer from Jerusalem known for her recent work where she flips the script and gives agency to “Laila” of “Laila and the Wolf” (the Arabic version of the “Little Red Riding Hood”). In interviews after the event, Darina emphasized that a space for collective thinking and expression, like Eitar, is essential for Jerusalem.

“One hand cannot clap alone,” she said.4

Reflecting on fellow artists’ productions, Noran says that bringing these works to life has been empowering for their collective identity, making her recognize the genuine beauty that gets created when people are united rather than dispersed. The strength and beauty of this joint effort fills her with a sense of pride at “how creative and beautiful our people are!”

Noran explains that some members from the north had not been acquainted with Jerusalem previously. Thanks to Eitar, they can now navigate the cultural and artistic spaces of the city easily. Jerusalemites themselves, she adds, have become familiar with the city’s different neighborhoods in ways they had not previously been exposed to. For example, Noran is from al-Tur neighborhood, while Nadim is from Silwan. Each of these neighborhoods has a different set of issues, she explains, and working together has helped them digest and gain insight into each other’s worlds. Another thing that stands out about this initiative is how the artists encourage and cheer on one another; for artists, this can have profound importance. The group members feel proud of each other’s artistic contributions and support one another.

“I doubt I will come to anything as great as this [endeavor],” Noran says, passionate about the work achieved so far by Eitar. “We are still taking the first steps, but look how at how much we have achieved already! And to think that this all started spontaneously.” It is meaningful to reflect on how much she, as a 24-year-old woman, has already accomplished for a young artist by volunteering and taking action.

Things are always moving, she explains, and the team is committed to expansion. “We want to become more institutionalized and make our mark as a more serious entity,” she says.

“Our energies are so similar; we all have the urge to create and build,” Noran says of the Eitar team. “I feel grateful for the energy we have,” she smiles—hinting at much yet to come.