An exhibition of recent works by Gazan artist Majed Badra and a selection of historic Palestine solidarity posters was opened at the Muloobinba/Newcastle Resistance Centre on March 28.
“This art is made out of the pain and the blood that me, my family and my people have suffered during the massacre and the genocide in Gaza over the last couple of years,” Badra told the opening.
Badra explained that he and his brother, Shamikh, tried to rescue their parents from Gaza during the genocide.
“Unfortunately my father passed away and also my brother went missing for a couple of years, and then we discovered that he, his four kids, his wife and his father-in-law got bombed in Gaza.
“Luckily we have been successful in rescuing our mother. She came to Australia a few months ago.
“Because of the genocide and the starvation, my mother was just 39 kilograms when she arrived. Happily, she’s here and safe now.”
Badra is also a filmmaker, whose documentary Gaza Nippers: Hope Amid Devastation has earned recognition for its sensibility and human-centred storytelling.
The exhibition was curated and introduced by longtime Socialist Alliance activist Steve O’Brien, who is also running for Lord Mayor of Newcastle.
O’Brien said the archival posters included in the exhibition show that Australians have been expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine for 70 years.
“What's really interesting is to see the modern work of our friend Majed and see how those themes have been repeated these past 70 years — themes of genocide and people struggling for their national liberation.
“Many people in Australia recognise that the Palestinian struggle is a just struggle, and support it. And the documentary evidence of these posters shows that. Majed’s work shows how the issues that we have been struggling for remain burning issues today.”
Viewings are by appointment until April 20. SMS 0490 122 377 or email: [email protected].