Allegory of Alijila’s “ In Between Two World’s”
Native الفلسطينيون Dr. Abdalhadi Alijila’s cubist allegorical expressionism originally titled “In Between Two World’s” has been adapted into it’s second contemporary title, “Genocide” , which came about in Italy, where it was exhibited at the Muveo Museum, earlier in 2025. The heaviness of Dr. Abdalhadi Alijila’s hinterland, Gaza, is felt around the entire world, hundreds of millions of people have risen to express their solidarity in form of resistance as they feel the moral injury of this shattered human experience, that is a “Genocide”, committed by Israel and funded by the US Empire with impunity. This story is not just one, it is a compilation of many stories multi-layered in a matrix of exhausting propaganda, riddled with deceptive tactics of dehumanization, weaponization of identity, and the reign of plutocracy, all with the end goal of extermination- “In Between Two World’s” is the essence of an allegorical tango. Dr. Alijila is both the author, dancing his fingers upon the canvas, attempting to make sense of this riddle, marking the razored edges of perplexed profound entanglement as he untangles himself from the storm of emotions that have enveloped him in the inertia of numbness, lamenting the orchestrated cruel demolition. One can feel the silence permeating from the charcoal ashes screaming to be released from the helpless rage, desperate to make the world stop the endless assaults as equally perplexed to keep asking, what is human is a world not human, this carnivorous dimension? Then there is the whimsical highlights drawn from the disciplinary practices of Dr. Alijila’s elegant sophisticated diplomacy, beaming through to signify the uniqueness of his own edges, he is refinement exemplified. The markings upon the canvas with brutal truthful refrains exalt a consistent patterned cadence, beneath them the quiet storm of immeasurable loss through his almost Hitsuzendō-like still life brush strokes. The contours of Alijila’s work, feels like a forensic excavation drawn from the passionate act of reclamation of temperance. That even through the cursed destruction of Gaza, Dr. Alijila is conveying the resolve of mortality, his brush acting as an antenna for the voices of testimony, a conduit restoring the innocence remaining in the ravaged madness of Gaza’s collective memory. Her memory that is ancient, a memory that is Maternal, insistent, consistent and persistent in living Archives of who will carry her stories of atrocity, conquest and rebellion. Who lives, who dies, who gets to tell the story? Authorship, the enactment of what it means to be self evident, the final declaration of a dignified existence, the coined right to self determination, as the geo-political dimensions surround the vortex of delay, with hollowed words, devoid of the Meritus of honor. Dr. Alijila’s expressionism invokes the soul of authorship, he answers the calling to rise, find, and reclaim, the voice of one’s own life’s story; as he poignantly depicts symbolic measured abstraction to make sense of his own journey from Gaza to the world he now resides. This painting is where the Artist within Dr. Alijila, has become the stoic philosopher an imaginary surgical director, for a society gone mad, tasked with reconstructing what remains and attempting to orchestrate some semblance of sanity in the bones of the houses, reconstruct the tendons of the buildings, and reattach the flesh of the city he once called home. A village turned into a Mecca of blankets, as it’s threaded shrouds lay burning beneath the sheathes of sand, dust, stone, blood and dirt where there in the dead lay scattered, bodies alive in the ancient soils that still find the courage to refrain one last smile, in spite of the darkness. You may have killed the flesh of us, but you will never kill the spirit, the spirit is that which they could never understand, hence the envy that fuels their blackhearted vexation to attempt to destroy it.
This is more than a living archive for the life that Dr. Alijila once lived, this is an evidentiary documentation, and living testament to the life he and millions of Palestinian’s are still living, with insufferable losses, criminal victimization that is and has been directly targeting them, as a threat, for simply existing. In just 77 years Israel has devolved into one of the most barbaric, apartheid, savage criminal regimes since the Nazi’s of WW2. It is now referred to as a massive criminal empire.
Undeterred, Dr. Alijila remains a steadfast champion against deeply rooted academic conventions. His profound mastery of science, art, and deeply felt human experience serves as a powerful demonstration of the indomitable human spirit, a beacon of hope in these precarious times.His extraordinary intellect, honed in the crucible of his Gazan homeland, fuels his unwavering commitment to peace and justice. This fervent dedication, born from the brutal siege that tragically claimed the lives of his Beloved Mother and Father, as well as extended Family members—all victims of the Israeli Defence Forces' callous violence, directly and indirectly indiscriminate—is profoundly moving. His moral fortitude stands in stark contrast to the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for the suffering inflicted upon his family and countless others. The grotesque irony is inescapable: the very IDF operatives sought by the most powerful international justice court in the world still remains unaccountable, free to roam while their victims bear the indelible scars of their crimes. This unsettling reality underscores the deep chasm between justice and the pervasive reality of injustice.
This artwork serves as a potent metaphor for a world turned on its head. These are not merely difficult times; they represent a nadir in modern history. The profound moral wound inflicted upon the Palestinian people is now a shared moral injury haunting us all, a global conscience awakening to the enormity of the injustice. This shared pain fuels a burgeoning worldwide demand for accountability and transformative change.
“ In Between Two Worlds”, the dance between life and death, is the inexhaustible reality that Dr. Abdalhadi Alijila has had to mitigate his entire life, since he was old enough to remember, the scars of Gaza’s besiegement are deeply embodied within his essence. The winds of the past are roaring from Gaza, do we hear the screams and cries of injustice? They will continue, until the moral compass of our collective Global willpower for basic human rights, freedoms and justice are realized, acknowledged, rectified, vindicated, and our global Humanity is once again repaired with the temperance of a shared Human Moral Clarity. This painting is more than just a cubist theme of self evidentiary witnessing, it is a lived human experience driven from the bones of the bodies that lay in the concrete sands, as human visages that were ruthlessly splintered into jagged geometric forms, and in the years 2023 continuing into the modern 2025th year have now become ghostly stories, telling us of the ruling classes catastrophic disintegrating societies Modus Operandi; that their enactments of murder, erasure and displacement will be the new norm termed “business as usual’.
When we glance to the left of the canvas we see a a somber, swirling vortex of black birds—lost souls in desperate flight—each seem representational of the pervasive displacement and the specter of death that relentlessly shadows Gaza under the weight of this apartheid colonial plutocratic occupation.
These figures also remind me of the light and dark “ In Between Two World’s “, once again as I glimpse to also see these figures as suffocating darkness cloaked like thieves announcing the plutocratic fantasy to turning their destruction into fantastical visions of a dystopian vacation resort for the global elite, built upon the shattered remains of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian lives. This monstrous delusion, fueled by avarice and a callous disregard for humanity, requires Israel’s continued imploding impunity, along with the propagandists whom are paid to cast these vultures as visionaries instead of the rapacious, blood-soaked predators that they truly are. At the canvas's heart, a somber, earthen urn—a poignant symbol of irreparable loss—serves as a stark reminder of the immeasurable emptiness of the lost souls they have become as well, devoured by corrupted power imploding and ultimately destroying itself, like the Hannibal directive Israel has de-evolved into, destroying its own, destroying the monster it has become unto itself.
This is the Gaza of August 2025, rendered in brutal, unflinching detail. This is the irrefutable evidence igniting a global uprising. Leaders spurred by Visionary Virtuoso Leaders such as Dr. AbdalHadi Alijila’s, unwavering keen sense of swift defiance to not assimilate into the “ Modus Operandi of the Plutocracy” are heartened, compelled and motivated to rise and refuse to continue to enable the monstrosity of injustices stacked against Israel as well. A Global awakening has instead chosen to reclaim their own Humanity and use the collective inertia of their persuasive powers to press forth enactments and moral doctrines to combat against the layers and complexities for the generations of injustices, suffered upon the Palestinian people. A global surge of empathy has ignited a powerful movement to restore humanity's moral compass. Leveraging their collective influence, people worldwide are demanding justice for the generations of Palestinian suffering, actively challenging the intricate web of oppression. The world's moral indignation is rising against the insidious corruption that stifles our conscience. A pivotal moment approaches as the world's most influential judges stand poised to invoke Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter, authorizing military intervention to halt Israel's seemingly abyssal descent into genocidal atrocities. This action aims to apprehend and prosecute the legions of corrupted military, political and demagogue figure heads such as Netanyahu, Likkud and the illegal settlers. The UN seeks to implement the charges to the individuals responsible for these crimes against humanity, ensuring they face justice for their heinous acts.The world that is rising in opposition “ In Between Two World’s”. This is where we find ourselves this morning, this is where we find ourselves as the millions starve for freedom awaiting the moral response to the unconscionable actions, and that world is filled with the courageous resistance, fueled by intellect and unwavering passionate resolve, a resolve that will never be silenced. Alas, the subtle smile within the eye of the life in ruins, witnessing, reminding us to be unrelenting in our pursuits of optimism as a revolutionary enactment. As Above is So Below, the paradox of being and becoming,
Sky Evans Chief Curator PAPA Art Foundation MA Fine Art Curation Collections Management
