Gaza Remains The Story is an exhibition produced by the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit that strives to inform, educate, and narrate the stories of historical locations and cultural practices in Gaza, providing a glimpse into Gaza’s arts, aspirations, and uniqueness—what remains of it in these harsh times. While the deafening noise of never-ending bombardment drowns out the daily life, heritage, artistic expression, and creativity of the people of Palestine, this exhibition strives to look behind the curtains of the theatre of war and conquest.

All this time, art in Gaza has not been merely a testament to the harshness of reality, but in essence, is the manifestation of human existence. Gaza’s art thus defies the ugly cruelty of the occupation that is meant to dehumanize.

Some of the works that visitors can see here were part of a bigger exhibition titled This is Not an Exhibition, hosted in February 2024 by the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, West Bank and in collaboration with Shababek for Contemporary Art and the Eltiqa Art Gallery in Gaza. The exhibition brought together over 260 artworks by more than 100 Gazan artists. They have been collected from West Bank homes and galleries, institutions, and universities throughout historic Palestine, in partnership with more than 50 individual and institutional lenders. This moving act of solidarity was made possible by combined efforts, during a time when communicating with artists in Gaza was nearly impossible, and shipping their artworks, even more so. Meanwhile, the war continued to incinerate these artists’ homes, studios, and collections. These artworks on display were what was left of their creations. The material available for Gaza Remains The Story includes artworks from This is Not an Exhibition and it enriches it with other materials such as texts and photographs. Gaza Remains the Story has been available as ready-to-download, print and display exhibition since September 2024.

Gaza Remains the Story is an initiative by the Palestinian Museum in response to the global question of people who want to understand more about Palestine and Gaza after the war has started in 2023. This initiative aims to provide global audiences with information and references to contextualise Gaza within Palestine, the region, and the world. This exhibition employs text, drawings, and audiovisual material to explore historical, economic, geographic, demographic, and creative aspects of life in Gaza. Hyde Park Art Club is joining an international network of 245 organisations that have hosted the exhibition in 47 countries.

We are joined in Leeds by sister venues Sunny Bank Mills, in Farsley (6 December - 1 February), HEART in Headingley (22 November - 19 December), Holy Trinity Boar Lane (29 November - 19 December), Leeds University Union to create a trail city-trail. This initiative is supported by the Leeds Palestinian Film Festival.

The five prints you can see on this wall were selected by artist and curator Saba Siddiqui and Gavin McIntosh, co-founder of Artists Supporting Palestine, from the exhibition Art in Ruins, which run between 22 November - 19 December at Heart in Headingley.

With the support of the Leeds Palestinian Film Festival, now in its 11th edition, and HEART, a much loved community hub in Headingley, Artists Supporting Palestine have worked to produce Art in Ruins. This exhibition is curated by artist Mohamed Harb who selected works by four prominent fellow artists from Gaza. It is not possible to ship the artists' original works to Leeds, so instead the exhibition will present twenty-five open edition prints (five works by each of the 5 artists). The prints have been produced by Scottish artist and long time contributor to Artists Supporting Palestine, Angela McAuley.

The Leeds Palestinian Film Festival connected Hyde Park Art Club with Artists Supporting Palestine to join the Gaza Remains The Story city trail. Since our exhibition dates would not coincide, with the exhibition here running longer, we have asked them to be able to show a selection of artworks from Art in Ruins to make sure Gaza Remains the Story a bit longer for those artists too. On the opposite wall, you can see artworks donated by 5 Leeds artists for a fundraising raffle to support the work of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) work in Gaza.

Artists Supporting Palestine is an artist-led initiative launched early in 2024 and through their online website it provides a way for artists and collectors to show their solidarity with Palestine and offer practical support through the selling of artworks.

Prints from Art in Ruins will be available to purchase in person and online using the QR code below during the exhibition dates (22 November - 19 December) in support of the artists from Gaza that exhibited their artworks with Art in Ruin.

Not Just for Christmas is a fundraiser exhibition with artworks donated by Emii Alrai, Claye Bowler, Jasleen Kaur, Karanjit Paneesar and Rosie Vohra