My name is Linda Abdullah, I am an interdisciplinary artist and curator based in Chicago. I am co-curating the exhibition New Forms of Survivance that showcases the artworks of 14 Palestinian artists from Gaza.

At a moment of ongoing displacement and devastation, the exhibition foregrounds sumud, resilience, and the transformative power of creative expression.

By bringing these works to Chicago, the project creates a vital platform for Gazan artists to share their stories, build public understanding, and inspire solidarity through art.

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New Forms of Survivance

Curated by Linda Abdullah & Faten Nastas Mitwasi

Watershed Art & Ecology, Chicago

November 7 - December 5

Participating Artists: Basel Almaqousi, Dina Matar, Khalid Hussain, Maha Aldayeh, Majed Shala, Muhammad Abusal, Muhammad Alhawajri, Muhammad Harb, Raed Issa, Rana Batrawi, Rufaida Swaihl, Shareef Sarhan, Sohail Salem, Tahani Skaik, Artists Shelter Collective.

From November 7th to December 5th, 2026, New Forms of Survivance will be exhibited at Watershed Art & Ecology, shedding light on a group of Palestinian artists from Gaza. This exhibition features -some of the same artists from the 2024 exhibition Landscapes from Under the Rubble at Co-Prosperity, which foregrounded immediate responses to destruction.

Three years after October 7th, these artists are now forcibly dispersed; some of them live across the diaspora, while others are internally displaced within the Gaza Strip. New Forms of Survivance, however, reflects not only loss, but also sumud (steadfastness), resilience, and transformation.

Survivance, as writer Gerald Vizenor explains, is an active sense of presence over absence, the continuance of stories, and the refusal of mere victimhood; the Palestinian artists in this exhibition practice survivance through art. As artist Basel Almaquosi reflects, “I draw in order to remain awake as a sensitive human being; the war does not erase my dignity and humanity.” Working with whatever materials are available—diluted spices, pomegranate, charcoal, tea, coffee, or hibiscus—these artists produce expressive marks on modest surfaces, like school notebooks and ruled paper. The drawings function as a form of diaristic testimony from within a war zone. When the artist and professor Suhail Salem began sharing daily sketches on Facebook, he described them as “our only window to tell the world: we are still alive.”

New Forms of Survivance celebrates the work of Palestinian artists and offers a platform through which they share their stories, reflect on their fears, and express their dreams. Against violence, the artists from Gaza continue to pursue creative expression as a testament to their love of life. The artworks offer alternative ways of seeing, manifesting the evolving relationship between the artists’ lived realities and their creative practices over the past three years.