In 1968, Palestinian Jerusalemite artist Kamal Boullata (see Kamal Boullata) commemorated the 20th anniversary of the massacre and depopulation of the Deir Yassin village, through this quietly powerful work which bears the name of the village and the year it was lost (see Deir Yassin Village and Massacre).
The print departs from Boullata’s more familiar abstract geometric canvases (see “Jerusalem Is Ahead of Me”: The Art of Kamal Boullata), instead presenting a symbolic depiction of the Palestinian village. Rather than turning the site of a historical trauma into a spectacle of violence, Boullata evokes Deir Yassin as a lived space, rooted and harmonious, reflecting what it once was or could have been. Like other artists from the 1960s and 1970s, Boullata used imagery to assert identity and resist erasure. The absence of overt brutality becomes a deliberate strategy: Deir Yassin is remembered not only as a massacre, but as a place that once held daily life and community.
Publication Details
[Curator's note: This is a restored version. The original may be viewed here]
Graphic remastering courtesy of Vladimir Tamari
Text at bottom of poster: Kamal Boullata (PALESTINE), collection of Mrs. Suha Tukan, 900 First Edition, published by the Friends of Jerusalem, produced by Waddah Faris Printers C.I.P Lithography by LEOGRAVURE LEBANON