Basel Alaklouk

Born in Gaza, Palestine

Displaced in Cairo, Egypt

Basel Alaklouk has lived and worked through all of the wars in Gaza. However, during this war, all of Alaklouk’s paintings were destroyed, every single one. After the sixth month of the war, just before they closed the borders, he managed to leave to Cairo. Alaklouk was left only with a thought to contemplate: What would it mean to work again after all his life’s work has vanished from the earth? For months he could not find the will to start working again. To continue where he left off was impossible—it required a creative force that could hold up to all the work that was lost, that could somehow carry it. This profound obstacle led Alaklouk to turn his attention to research instead of production. It led to something remarkable.

He thought about all the aspects of the war, his experience and displacements, the complicity of most of the world powers, the news media, et cetera. What could his painting do in the face of all this? An overarching concept emerged: visual art speaks a language that does not require translation, and so can reach the whole world. Alaklouk sought to write a letter to the world, just to say “We are a Palestinian community, and we have the right to live.”

His research then turned at once to formal questions, including the timelessness of visual art, from cave drawings to modern art. With limited materials due to the extremely high cost of supplies, what emerged came into the world as if it were the first painting of humanity. A series of ten paintings have followed. These works have a healing power. They utilize form for its eternal and mystical and symbolic qualities, all with a kind of self-reflexive humility. Art, the creative act, since the beginning of humanity, it has been said, is ultimately an act of resistance, resistance against death, containing in it the struggle of a people to survive and live with dignity. As Alaklouk says about Palestinians, “We are alone fighting the occupation. It is healing to know there are people fighting for us.” His work is a tribute to visual forms able to tell this story.