The Occupation in Miniature

In the art of Bedouin artist, Eid Hadaleen, the instruments of the occupation are reconstructed by the occupied.  The originals of the miniatures are Hadaleen’s everyday fare: bulldozer, helicopter, digger, tractor, truck. These modes of transportation and construction are wielded against the Palestinian people with the intended effect of immobilizing them. Yet, through the use of wood, iron, rubber, plastic, glass, parts of furniture and accessories, Hadaleen performs a miniature imitation that suggests on one hand mockery and on another the power of creative responses to the occupation.

Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia

The Palestinian artist, curator, and poet Ashraf Fayadh, 35, has been sentenced to death by beheading. Saudi Arabian authorities have declared his crime as “apostasy,” or abandoning one’s religion—in this case, renouncing Islam. Several other charges were also leveled against Fayadh, including allegedly photographing women and storing their pictures on his phone, a violation of the country’s Anti-Cyber Crime Law. He pleaded his innocence to all the charges.