FUCK COLONIALISM

Most of my designs are made to sell. This one was made to feel.

At 16, I wore my first Palestinian keffiyeh without really knowing what it stood for. The ignorance of youth - you move through symbols without grasping their weight. I grew up learning about the horrors inflicted on the Jewish people. Rightly so. It should never be forgotten. But that’s exactly why it’s so unsettling to watch how easily cycles of violence repeat - how memory can exist and still fail to prevent new injustices.

Even after 1945 - and especially since 1948 - profound injustice has unfolded. Let me be clear: I am not anti-Semitic. If anything, I’m atheist at worst - religion divides - and an anti-Zionist at most!!!! As for the latter, I could preach for hours about how Zionism has brutalised our world and the misery it has brought upon countless people. Believe me, this is just a mild version of what I feel and have to say about Israel’s racist apartheid regime. In a diplomatic way: I deeply oppose Israel’s settlement policies. What has been happening for decades is fucking painful (that sense of helplessness one feels is hard to describe) to witness. It feels wrong. It feels inhumane.

The worst thing is… colonialism didn’t start in Palestine, and it didn’t end anywhere. Its bloody legacy is seen in the Nakba of Palestine and stretches back to the forced displacements in North and South America, Africa, and so many more countries centuries ago. This piece is my way of fusing those histories - intertwining shared pain, resistance, and the fight for dignity. It’s about histories of displacement, anti-colonial solidarity, respect for land and identity, and defiance against state violence. Right now, as humanity falters in Palestine, art feels like one of the few ways left to scream into the void. I have nothing left but to vomit emotion onto canvas when the world fails. One thing is certain: Gaza will haunt us forever.

Right now, when words feel cheap and politics feel hollow, art becomes a way to release what doesn’t fit anywhere else. Not a solution - just a refusal to stay silent. Because some things shouldn’t be easy to live with. And some things, once seen, don’t let you go.