With full artistic and inventive capacities, the Palestinian-Saudi Arabian artist, Narmeen Hamadeh, exhibits bewildering illustrations assorted with middle eastern touch to astound the digital audience.
After years of concentrated hard work and expansion, Hamadeh finally launches, with a unique sense of activism, an appealing work that allures the viewer to dig more into not only the middle eastern culture but also the Palestinian cause that is saturated with enthralling history and ethos.
Born of Palestinian parents in Riyadh, Narmeen was deeply impacted by her grandparents who were expelled from their home in Dayr Al-Qassi village in Akka, Palestine, to Lebanon in 1948. Later in the 60s, they fled to Saudi Arabia escaping the brutality of the Israeli occupation.
“I loved when my grandma used to share with me tales about Palestine while preparing the Arabic coffee. This is where most of my inspiration for my art is generated,” Hamadeh mentioned.
In 2004, Hamadeh went back to Lebanon to pursue her education and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Interior Architecture from the Lebanese American University (LAU). After working for a couple of years, Hamadeh decided to proceed with her art expedition via earning a Master’s Degree in Interior Design from the Domus Academy in Milan.
To Hamadeh, this was a vital turning point in her professional and personal life as she was able to have a wider look at how the international community views Palestinians and any misconceptions related to them generated by the Israeli occupation in the art and media world. And while venturing into the artistic profession through illustrations, Nermeen was also able to realize the amount of power that this field has to resist the occupation and its apartheid, especially when sharing it with a huge audience on social media.
“It has been always extremely vital to me and every single Palestinian artist to utilize artistic tools as a form of resistance,” Narmeen Hamdeh told Kayani Project. “In fact, I perceive my artwork as an archived evidence that will always be present and valid to the audience when reading about Palestine as we barely find concrete and related backup/artistic work on the matter due to the constant attempts of concealing and abolishing the truth by Israel occupation as a form of colonizing tactics.”
One of her first artwork pieces is the “Old Man Hummus” that was inspired by an incident in Milan that Hamadeh experienced while purchasing hummus that had a Rabbinical written on it. At that moment, Nermeen decided to quickly and furiously draw the character to raise awareness about the issue by embodying this cultural theft.
Not only Hamadeh focuses on the prompts mentioned previously but is also constantly keen to amplify the voices of women in her illustrations by raising awareness on the importance of good mental health and well-being for them. She also encourages them to pursue their dreams and break all the stereotypes attached to them.
“Palestinian women are very strong, hard-working, and always supportive to their families and children. Thus, portraying their role in all fields not only as caregivers yet also as warriors, is extremely vital to shift the banal and misrepresenting narrative aligned to them,” Hamadeh added.
Speaking of this aspect, Narmeen excelled when the Covid-19 pandemic emerged as she collaborated with another Palestinian woman residing in the diaspora to send care packages to Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, Palestine. In fact, Hamadeh designed astonishing artwork for the masks in the care package. The designs incorporated elements of Palestinian resistance and culture.
Today, Hamadeh’s artwork has helped other Palestinians dwelling in the diaspora feel heard, recognized, and understood.
“The majority of Palestinians are dispersed as well as share the exact pain when thinking about Palestine. Therefore, connecting to them through art shortens the distance between both of us and establishes an unexplained sense of support.” Hamadeh ended.
Visit Hamadeh’s website to know more about her work:
https://linktr.ee/narmeenillustrations