In this short film produced by MUNCH and MONA Productions, Palestinian artist, educator, and activist Samia Halaby welcomes us into her New York studio with warmth and familiarity. Speaking directly to the camera as she adds the final touches to a painting, Samia invites viewers into her creative process, a space where thought, color, and movement flow naturally together.
Born in Jerusalem in 1936, Samia has spent more than six decades redefining abstraction, transforming it into a living language rooted in both social consciousness and artistic experimentation. Her reflections in the video reveal a striking modernity: she speaks not as someone anchored in the past, but as an artist who has grown alongside time itself. “Samia, if you are an artist of your time, why are you still using oil paintings?” she recalls asking herself, a question that led her to pioneer digital and computer-generated art long before it became mainstream.
The film also celebrates Samia as the recipient of the 2025 MUNCH Award, honoring her visionary and enduring practice. Yet what makes the film most powerful is its intimacy. In her presence, the boundary between artist and viewer dissolves. Her warmth, clarity, and curiosity remind us that true modernity is not defined by youth, but by a continual openness to evolve, to see, as she puts it, endless beauty, even in a changing world.
At the heart of Samia’s art lies a steadfast solidarity with her homeland and the people of Palestine. Through her posters, paintings, and collective work with other Palestinian and international artists, she continues to document and honor the stories of her people. Her art becomes a form of resistance, one grounded in representation and, as she says, in her “sympathy with the Palestinian resistance.” Whether abstract or figurative, each work speaks of belonging, struggle, and endurance, reminding us that beauty and defiance can coexist on the same canvas.
As an activist, Samia has been organizing around issues of class, race, and Palestine since the 1970s, standing firmly against injustice both within and beyond the art world. A vocal critic of censorship in the arts, which she herself has faced and overcome, she continues to embody artistic integrity and courage, proving that freedom of expression is, for her, both a creative and moral commitment.