Brutiful Tales: Art, Stories & Solidarity with Palestine

Samia Tossio is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hi, I'm Samia Khalaf Tossio - a British-born community artist, playfully creative activist, and daughter of a Palestinian refugee. In March 2025, I returned from a transformative visit to Occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The stories I heard from organisations and community groups - told with raw honesty, aching beauty, and fierce resistance - inspired me to do what I do best: share. Thus, ‘Brutiful Tales’ was born.

This participatory project is rooted in oral history and creative expression. It’s about amplifying the lived experiences of Palestinian communities through story and silk, resistance and resilience, brutality and beauty - what I call “brutiful.”

The heart of the project lies in connecting communities in Palestine and the UK through sharing 'Brutiful Tales' and inviting audiences to respond creatively. Their words, drawings, and emotions will shape the design of collaborative silk-painted murals, co-created with groups in the UK and with partners in Palestine. These 'Silk Roads' will later travel across borders to be exhibited in both lands - a powerful act of solidarity, storytelling, and shared humanity.

I believe in art and culture as weapons of mass creation and define community as ‘communication in unity through diversity and inclusion’. I believe that in telling the truth, we create space for justice, healing, and humanKIND connection.

Join me on this journey! Listen, feel, create, and donate to help carry these stories forward.

The first 'Silk Road' mural* will be unveiled during the official launch event on 21 June 2025, on Summer Solstice, at Oru Sutton, London - featuring special guest speakers, a livestream from Palestine, creative action and sunset DJ sessions on the rooftop. I am very grateful to Oru co-founders and team for their invaluable support in helping me to launch this project, to TV personality and outspoken advocate for Palestine, Nadia Sawalha, to Sabeel-Kairos UK for organising the trip, to all the delegates who have been guest speakers, to the groups and organisations who welcomed and informed us with such warmth and smiles, despite their reality, and to a globally known Palestinian artist for permission to use an artwork of his as the basis for the first Brutiful Tales Silk Road - I will reveal his name on 21st June at the official launch, book tickets at www.oruspace.co/events

Project Objectives

• Share real life stories from Palestine to humanise and highlight the impact of occupation.

• Encourage creative responses to build understanding, empathy, and solidarity and connect UK communities with Palestinian voices through storytelling and collaborative art.

• Co-create ‘Silk Road’ murals reflecting shared narratives of resilience and hope. Exhibit these silk painted murals in both the UK and Palestine, creating cultural bridges and symbolising creative solidarity.

• Tour ‘Brutiful Tales’ to engage schools, cultural festivals, and community events in conversations on displacement, justice, and belonging.

Your support will help fund me to:

deliver artist-led silk painting workshops and buy art materials (my UK-based supplier will give me a discount on materials)
cover venue and event costs for in-person events (I will always try and negotiate support-in-kind where possible)
host live-streamed events to include voices from the ground (I currently use free versions of software, time-limited)
cover reasonable travel costs for touring Brutiful Tales in the UK and connecting with overseas partners when online zooms will not suffice (I have friends around the UK and am happy to sleep on sofas, I don't own a car so will use public transport or car-sharing app. I would be able to stay with family if/when I need to travel overseas for this project)
cover shipping costs of materials and murals (I have not found a single supplier of the specific materials needed for silk painting in the region, so I will have to ship from the UK!)
cover exhibition costs (this is a bit further down the line)
cover my reasonable administration and promotion costs
cover any sub-contractor costs where applicable ie: professional photographer/videographer/film editor/sound editor (though I intend to engage young people with those skills and give them the work experience, where practical)

Finally, I will share my Yaffa-born father's words - "Resolve the problem in Palestine and watch many of the world's problems disappear" - Haji Marwan Khalaf El-Yafi (1940-2019) Insha'allah we will see this come to pass in our lifetime, dad, for the good of the whole. Rest in peace and see you when my time's up!

*SamiArt & The Silk Road is the first participatory art project I delivered as a community artist in 2008, inspired by the iconic Silk Road and a dream. Click to see more on my website

Disclaimer:

Brutiful Tales is a grassroots, community-led initiative currently being developed and delivered by me, Samia Khalaf Tossio, as an individual. While this project is not yet a registered nonprofit, all funds raised through this campaign will go directly toward supporting Brutiful Tales events, materials, travel, collaboration with Palestinian partners, and the co-creation and exhibition of collaborative community artworks. Wherever possible costs will be kept to a minimum.

I am committed to full transparency and will share regular updates on how funds are used and the impact of the project. If you have any questions or would like to get involved, or would like to host a Brutiful Tales event, please reach out via: