By Robert Leslie

While the horrors of what is happening in Palestine – in Gaza and the West Bank – unfold on our screens almost hour by hour, the voices of the Palestinian families who are victims of what has been recognised as a genocide are more difficult to hear through mainstream media due to reporting restrictions.

For anyone keen to learn more, the current exhibition in Northlight Gallery in Stromness is a window into the world of Palestinians through paintings, textiles, crafts and words, both by Palestinians themselves and by Orkney residents who have visited there.

Stepping through the door of the Graham Place gallery to be confronted by beautiful and thought-provoking works is an emotional experience. Even in the window as you approach, a Tree of Hope hung with embroidered Christmas tree decorations made by women of the Shu’fat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem catches your eye. To know they are made in a place where a population greater than Orkney is crowded into an area no bigger than Stromness is a reality check. Selling these brings a small supplementary income for the women.

Until I started attending the weekly Gaza ceasefire vigils in front of St Magnus Cathedral in late 2023, my experience of what was going on in Palestine was restricted to what I had read in history books and followed on the news over the decades.

The most in-depth knowledge I had from outside these sources was through reading Palestine, the non-fiction graphic novel written and drawn by Joe Sacco, which documents his experiences in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in December 1991 and January 1992. His travels and interviews around these areas emphasise the history and plight of the Palestinian people – as a group and as individuals.

If you are like me, then the Seeds of Hope – Voices from Palestine exhibition is a must visit to take in the creative spirit of a people under illegal occupation in their own land.

A short story written and illustrated by 11-year-old Sara Ashour as a competition at her primary school in Gaza is heart-breaking to read. Sara wrote the story, Diline Respects Everyone, in March 2023, winning the competition, and was killed along with her mother, father and three siblings in November 2023.

Sara was the niece of Palestinian author and storyteller Diline Abushaban, who visited Orkney last August and shared stories from her homeland as she prepared Palestinian food for around 70 folk in the St Magnus Centre.

Diline’s own work, Poppies, in acrylic on canvas with poppy seeds, is a striking tribute to the lives of her friends and family killed since October 2023. Poppies are the national flower of Palestine, and every flower in her painting is accompanied by a name – a life cut short in the genocide, sometimes without any loved ones around to bury them, and many buried under rubble.

When peace dies, embrace it. It will live again is a bold image of a woman holding a dead white dove. It is a print of a painting by Malak Mattar, born in the Gaza Strip in 1999, and who has documented the genocide in a series of drawings and paintings in mostly monochrome, culminating in the monumental greyscale painting No Words. Seek it out online.

The mixed media works by Orkney resident Moira Taylor-Wintersgill, entitled Break! I, II and III, are based on photographs she took while on a study tour of Israel and Palestine in 2021 with Ministry students from Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities. This included a visit to the Tent of Nations outside Bethlehem. Just like Joe Sacco, the students were able to meet and speak to many Palestinians. They saw and felt the oppression. The stark images convey both the horror and hope of life in occupied Palestine.

I had acted as a go-between for the passing of the colourful Stitch in Solidarity with Palestine banner as it arrived from Shetland ready for Orkney folk to add their contributions. This is a project started by Kirsty Russell of Healthcare Workers for Peace in Aberdeen, calling for an end to targeting of patients, staff and healthcare facilities in Palestine. Having seen the original work at Christmas time, it was great to see this remarkable piece of activism art now including the panels embroidered by a group in Orkney under the guidance of Sheena Graham-George.

It felt all the more poignant to view this remarkable collaborative embroidery work on the day that evidence was emerging that Israeli forces had deliberately targeted ambulances and shot dead 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers in Rafah on 23 March, burying them with their vehicles in a mass grave. Footage on a phone found on one of the bodies uncovered from the grave contradicted Israeli military claims that their vehicles did not have emergency signals on when Israeli troops opened fire. The horrors continue despite the solidarity shown to Palestine by so many ordinary folk around the world.

Elsewhere we have stories and artwork from children in the same Shu’fat Refugee Camp as the Tree of Hope decorations are made. Orkney Friends of Palestine’s Gaynor Jones has lived with families in the camp for a time, observing the terrible conditions at first hand and volunteering with a focus on children with disabilities and women’s groups. The children’s works come from sessions led by Dr Salim Anati and others at the Disabled Children’s Centre on 1st October 2023, and are entitled ‘Psychological expression through art, today’s activities’.

Dr Anati sees the fear and nightmares experienced by the children. He wrote to Gaynor: ‘We are having hard days but we will not give up. Your sympathy and support keep us hoping to have a better life. Thank you all.’

Works by Katherine Diaper, who has done a wonderful job in curating the exhibition, are also on display, alongside works by the Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative near Bethlehem.

In one corner of the gallery a film of some of the ceasefire vigils is running. Given the situation in Palestine right now, it feels like these vigils – which were halted for far too few weeks as hostages from Israel and Palestine were exchanged – will continue for many more weeks. We can only hope that we are wrong and that some of the dignity and strength of the Palestinians in the face of such horrors starts to filter through to the wider world and we can see a day when illegal occupation, ethnic cleansing and the genocide of the present is exchanged for peace.