Episode 023: The Caged Bird Paints with Malak Mattar

This week we sit down with the vibrant 21-year old Palestinian female artist, painter, and activist Malak Mattar coming to us straight from Gaza, Palestine. Malak takes us through her experience growing up in Gaza under Israeli siege and surviving four Israeli military assaults from early childhood to adulthood. She tells us about her path to painting, the inspiration behind the subjects in her art, her favorite Palestinian painters, and how the Israeli siege on Gaza has affected her ability to travel as an artist and sell her art (she operates an Etsy store based in Turkey to avoid censorship by the Apartheid State which would have to approve the packages she sends out of Gaza). She describes the current situation in Gaza since the latest assaults in May including heightened restrictions on the entry of goods due to Apartheid Israel's blocking of chocolate, wedding dresses, and certain acrylic colors (like white and black paint colors). Malak evokes the meaning of living as a free Gazan woman against the backdrop of the brutal siege and occupation. She critically reminds us that "Peace is no longer a priority; Freedom is" and takes us through her dreams for the future. The Palestine Pod queries whether there are breakfast burritos in Gaza.

To consult the sources used in the preparation of this episode, please see:

Malak Mattar (Etsy)

Malak Mattar (Instagram)

Articles

1. Four Wars Old: fourteen years of childhood in Gaza (Visualizing Palestine)

2. Gaza Lives Erased: Israel Is Wiping Out Entire Palestinian Families on Purpose (Haaretz)

3. World Report 2015: Israel/Palestine Events of 2014 (Human Rights Watch)

4. From wedding dresses to soap: Gaza event highlights Israeli siege (Al Jazeera)

5. Israel intercepts 23 tons of chocolate it says was intended to finance Hamas (Times of Israel)

6. Israel’s halting of mail delivery from/to Gaza is unacceptable collective punishment (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)

7. Putting Palestinians “On a Diet”: Israel’s Siege & Blockade of Gaza (IMEU)

8. Israeli Forces Kill Gaza Fisherman at Sea (Human Rights Watch)

9. Restrictions on Movement (B’Tselem)

10. Indya Moore Is Using Their Platform to Uplift Palestinian Voices (Them)

11. ‘Israel destroys cemeteries in Gaza in recent airstrikes’ (Anadolu Agency)

12. Ancient Palestinian Canaanite Cemetery Bulldozed by Israel (The Palestine Chronicle)

13. Palestinian killed by IDF in Gaza border clashes (The Jerusalem Post)

14. Who gets to vote in Israel’s version of democracy (+972 Magazine)

15. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are mostly children (Index Mundi)

16. Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson