The colours of pain

Through their paintings, artist couple want to educate the world about the Palestinian cause. Kavitha S. Daniel reports

They were born in Palestine sometime in the Thirties, she a few years later than him. Her childhood was spent in Jaffa and his in Lydda. In 1948, as teenagers they were ruthlessly and savagely displaced from their homes and thrust in refugee camps. She in a Beirut camp and he found himself in a campat the Khan-Younes, Gaza Strip.

All around them they saw killing, blood, misery and martyrs, fear and grim gun-toting soldiers - images which were indelibly stamped in their minds forever.

And this today has become the subject of the art exhibition, Palestine: The Exodus and the Odyssey being held at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation until January 16.

The 19 large-sized, (165x200cms) oil paintings in this exhibition are the works of Jordan-based Palestine artist couple Ismail Shammout and Tamam Al-Akhal whose bitter memories of a common past acted as a bond when they met each other at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo and later married.

Memories of events

Dogged by angst, in 1997 they paid a visit to Palestine and to their respective birthplaces - Jaffa and Lydda. Ismail Shammout recalls the visit, "It was very important seeing our homes which no longer belonged to us. We went through a lot of emotions, it brought back memories of all the dreadful events we had experienced.''

When they returned to their present home in Amman, they mutually agreed to put their memories on canvas. To place the truth in front of the people and place on record forever what every Palestinian has had to experience.

"Truth never dies, we have a terrible enemy," says Shammout. "But, we are also afraid that age and time will blot out the images of our cause. That's why we thought of illustrating them so that they remain alive for the coming generations and in the people's conscience all over the world.''

Adds his soft-spoken wife Tamam Al-Akhal, "These paintings portray the entire story of the Palestine history - from the spring that was before 1948 and then after, the tragedy, the struggle, persistence, hopes and dreams of the Palestinians.''