Soul of My Soul

What does it mean to continue to create art during a genocide?

- Apeksha Priyadarshini

ALWAYS pray for me, and do not forget me. I don't want to be just another number on the news ticker. I am a story"- these were some of the last words of Mahasen Al-Khateeb, a renowned young artist and digital illustrator, who had been sharing her stories of resilience in the face of destruction in North Gaza. Al-Khateeb's last uploaded digital artwork on Instagram was on Sha'ban al-Dalou-the 19-year-old who was filmed while being burnt alive in Deir el-Balah, when Israeli forces bombed the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital complex in the late hours of October 13. Her page, otherwise filled with delightful images of hope, now had the gut-wrenching illustration of Sha'ban burning. On October 18-hours after this illustration was posted, captioned 'We are burning'-Al-Khateeb was killed by an Israeli airstrike on her home in the Jabalia refugee camp in North Gaza.

Suhad Khatib, a prominent Palestinian artist based in Amman, Jordan, shares how she almost crossed paths with Al-Khateeb. "The indirect connections with artists from Gaza have left a true impact in my heart. One of them is with a Palestinian artist named Mahasen Al-Khateeb," she says. "I didn't know her in person but I used to follow her page. I knew her friends and they were working on an art workshop for youth in Gaza. They asked me if I would be interested in volunteering some time, and I agreed. They decided to put me in touch with this Palestinian woman in Falasteen who was going to plan the workshop. That woman happened to be Mahasen. In the same week that I was supposed to talk to Mahasen, she was martyred," Khatib recounts. "When I was done with my bookwhich is about martyrs-a Gazan woman came to my studio. She knew Mahasen and was selling some of her works to support her family. I bought most of the works so that I could include them as gifts with my book. So that, everyone who buys my book also gets a gift from Mahasen," she reminisces.