About

"In Another Life; Within Our Lifetimes" is a response to the brutal killing of prominent Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot at point-blank range by an Israeli occupation soldier. Abu Akleh is one of at least 45 Palestinian journalists murdered by Israeli forces since 2000—a number likely much higher. The ongoing murder of journalists is just one of the many ways Israel censors, erases, and silences Palestinians.

Palestinians live under a relentless apartheid system, so deeply dehumanized that their murder has become an everyday reality. Journalists, elders, disabled individuals, queers, women, men, children, and youth—no one is immune to Israel's systemic genocide and ethnic cleansing. Since 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their land, our dispossession and oppression have persisted without pause.

There is no justice for Shireen Abu Akleh, no justice for the 45 Palestinian journalists, and no justice for any of our martyrs—because there can be no justice for the dead. This painting envisions the only conceivable justice: for Shireen Abu Akleh and all our martyrs to have lived long enough to stand over the corpses of their killers.

In another life, perhaps. But Palestine will be free within our lifetimes. Justice may elude the dead, but we can fight for liberation for the living.