New Visions

The group was part of cultural resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine at the time of the First Intifada (1987–1993). According to their 1989 manifesto, the group sought to begin "an aesthetic quest to elevate artistic vision to a level that affirms the artist’s inner freedom and ability to envision beauty and truth in the midst of their daily struggle for freedom"

The four New Vision group co-founders, Sliman Mansour, Vera Tamari, Tayseer Barakat and Nabil Anani, were inspired by calls to boycott goods from Israel and the West, and chose to forego buying imported art supplies in favor of using local materials from their surrounding environment. They replaced oil paints, and instead began to produce works of fine art such as paintings, posters, mixed media assemblage, and earthworks with only materials found or produced locally.{{Cite web |last=Thawabeh |first=Omar |date=April 30, 2019 |title=Challenges of Identity: A Talk and Art Exhibition by Four of the Founding Members of the Modern Art Movement in Palestine |url=https://dafbeirut.org/contentFiles/file/2020/06/ips-press-release-en.pdf |website=Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF Beirut)}} The group is lauded as an example of 'committed art', bringing the political in symbolic form of the land (e.g. as mud, hay, leather) into the artwork.{{Cite web |title=VERA TAMARI - Artists |url=https://dafbeirut.org/en/vera-tamari |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Dalloul Art Foundation |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Rogers |first=Sarah |title=Sliman Mansour |url=https://www.encyclopedia.mathaf.org.qa/en/bios/Pages/Sliman-Mansour.aspx |access-date=2023-02-12 |website=Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World}} It has been described as an "artists' precursor to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)," highlighting the continued centrality of nonviolent resistance to the Palestinian cause over time.{{Cite web |last=Halasa |first=Malu |date=2022-12-26 |title=The Creative Resistance in Palestinian Art |url=https://themarkaz.org/the-creative-resistance-in-palestinian-art/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=The Markaz Review |language=en-US}} The group's audience was broad and included targeting an international audience as well as the Palestinian public.{{Cite web |last=Kadi |first=Samar |date=12 May 2019 |title=How Palestinian art evolved under siege |url=https://thearabweekly.com/how-palestinian-art-evolved-under-siege |website=The Arab Weekly}} New Visions became a model for political art in Palestine, and has had a lasting impact on contemporary art practice.{{Cite web |title=New Visions {{!}} The Palestinian Museum |url=https://palmuseum.org/en/node/4506 |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=palmuseum.org |language=en}}

The First Intifada led the artists to question their use of art materials imported from Israel. Mansour recounts that the artists' group was inspired by Palestinian self-sufficiency: "People were planting vegetables in their gardens so as not to buy anything from Israel. We thought, 'Why don’t we do the same as artists? Why should we buy paint from Israeli shops and then use it to paint against them?'."{{Cite web |last=Chaves |first=Alexandra |date=May 30, 2021 |title=How the watermelon became a symbol of Palestinian resistance |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts/how-the-watermelon-became-a-symbol-of-palestinian-resistance-1.1230806 |website=The National}} The artists instead started exploring local media including wood, clay, chalk, animal glue, straw, mud, leather and natural plant-based dyes such as coffee, olive oil, henna, tea and spices.{{Cite journal |last=Laïdi-Hanieh |first=Adila |date=Summer 2007 |title=In the Mirror of the Occupier: Palestinian Art through Israeli Eyes |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jps.2007.36.4.65 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=65–72 |doi=10.1525/jps.2007.36.4.65 |jstor=10.1525/jps.2007.36.4.65}}{{Cite web |title=The Khalid Shoman Collection {{!}} Darat al Funun |url=https://daratalfunun.org/?event=the-khalid-shoman-collection-2 |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=daratalfunun.org}}{{Cite web |title=هناك ضوء لا ينطفيء - نحو التجريب والابداع - خليل رباح {{!}} Khazaen |url=https://www.khazaaen.org/ar/node/13154 |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=www.khazaaen.org}} Both Mansour and Tamari worked with potter's clay, and added hay to improve its consistency. Tamari created works in this period featuring family groups in relaxed aspects and leisure activities such as chess and picnicking.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://daratalfunun.org/?publication=arab-art-histories |title=Arab Art Histories |date=2013 |publisher=The Khalid Shoman Foundation |isbn=9789082148404 |editor-last=Rogers |editor-first=Sarah |publication-date=2013 |pages=162–266 |language=EN, AR |trans-title=قراءات في الفن العربي |editor-last2=Van der Vlist |editor-first2=Eline}} Barakat, a painter, used wood and fire as his primary art materials, a technique known as pyrography. Nabil Anani used wood wrapped in sheep's leather, produced by a factory in Hebron/Khalil, and then dyed using natural dyes, and ingredients found in the kitchen, as listed above. All four artists utilized assemblages in their work, drawing from traditions of Islamic art and geometric patterns.{{Cite web |last=Farhat |first=Maymanah |date=June 22, 2012 |title=On "Liberation Art" and Revolutionary Aesthetics: An Interview with Samia Halaby |url=https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/26316 |access-date=2023-12-04 |website=Jadaliyya جدلية |language=en}}

The New Visions had an important influence on Palestinian art. Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture and the Institute for Palestine Studies called the New Visions artists "four of the founding members of the modern art group in Palestine". Although there were no additions to the founding members - beyond Khalil Rabah joining for a short time from exile in the US - the Palestinian artists' scene benefited from the prompt to experiment with local materials for their artworks, with some using cement, and wood that they hadn't before the intifada. In this way the group had an indirect influence on the development of the visual or fine arts in Palestine and is even considered to have ushered Palestinian fine art towards a more contemporary art practice.

In 2018, the A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) honoured the New Visions art collective in a ceremony in Ramallah.{{Cite web |date=August 9, 2018 |title=A. M. Qattan Foundation honours the New Visions collective |url=https://qattanfoundation.org/en/in-qattan/news/m-qattan-foundation-honours-new-visions-collective |website=A. M. Qattan Foundation}} During the ceremony artist Khaled Hourani spoke about the impact and accomplishments of New Visions, which AMQF describes as having "set the foundations for contemporary practices of Palestinian visual arts".

For Mansour, the New Visions group was a turning point in his art production. He said of the shift:

"The intifada mainly liberated us. Our art became more expressive of ourselves and more abstract. We were no longer limited to the traditional way of doing art to please a specific public. For example, I began working with clay and this made me engage in sculpture.”

In December 2024, The Palestinian Museum, a Non-Governmental Association and independent cultural organisation based in the town of Birzeit, near Ramallah, in the West Bank, marked the 37th anniversary of the First Intifada and the 35th anniversary of the New Visions group by unveiling four murals by the four artist co-founders. The four murals were of differing materials, and commissioned and displayed on opposite walls within the Palestinian Museum.

• Vera Tamari's mural (6.3x27.5m), Harisat AlArd (Guardians of the Earth /حارسات الأرض), made up of 3,288 minature ceramic olive trees painted with watercolours, was inspired by her earlier work from 2002, Hikayat Shajara (A Tree's Tale / حماية شجرة).
• Sliman Mansour's mural, Ala Janah AlMalak (On the Wings of An Angel / على جناح الملاك) used clay with straw, (6x12m) and featured the Old City of Jerusalem as the focal point of the work.
• Nabil Anani's mural, (clay, henna, wood, 3.5x17.5m) is titled, 'The March of the Trees', Maissra Ashjaar / ميسرة الاشجار).
• Tayseer Barakat's mural is titled, 'The Eternal Quest on the Mediterranean Shores', (البحث عن الارجوان على شواطئ المتوسط / Albahth 'an alarjouan 'ala shwati' almutawast), (fire and wood, {{Convert|17|m}} x {{Convert|3.9|m}}).{{Cite web |date=9 December 2024 |title=The Palestinian Museum Unveils Murals by Artists of the “New Visions" Group |url=https://palmuseum.org/en/about/press-and-media/news/palestinian-museum-unveils-murals-artists-new-visions-group}}

The murals were created with the assistance of volunteers and students from the nearby Birzeit University's faculty of art, music and design, inspired by the spirit of collective resistance commonly espoused during the First Intifada. The Palestinian Museum stated that the murals will become part of their permanent art collection, in recognition that the group remains relevant today, as Palestinian artists continue to express their daily lives and struggles through creative practice.{{Cite web |last=Motaz |date=2024-12-21 |title=أربعة فنانين وأربعة مشاريع ضخمة: المتحف الفلسطيني يستعيد روح جماعة "نحو التجريب والإبداع" |url=https://www.alquds.co.uk/%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B9-%D8%B6%D8%AE%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%AD/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=القدس العربي |language=ar}}{{Cite web |title=المتحف الفلسطيني يرفع الستار عن جداريّات فنّاني جماعة |url=https://www.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/109500 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241211080633/https://wafa.ps/Pages/Details/109500 |archive-date=2024-12-11 |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=WAFA Agency |language=en}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbs21CglC9c&ab_channel=%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A2 |title=مجموعة "نحو التجريب والإبداع".. الفن الفلسطيني برؤى جديدة l ضفاف |date=2024-12-11 |last=العربي 2 |access-date=2025-01-26 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite news |last=Roya News |first=Jordan |date=10 Dec 2024 |title=نحو التجريب والإبداء |url=https://www.facebook.com/reel/1251547486133755 |access-date=26 Jan 2025 |work=Roya News}}

The New Visions collective began holding group exhibitions inspired by the potential of a free Palestine, and the role that art could play in civic resistance, in 1989. This is an incomplete, but representative selection:

• 1989, New Visions, Jerusalem; which also travelled to Germany, Italy and the United States{{Cite web |title=The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive - أرشيف المتحف الفلسطيني الرقمي : نص : "نحو التجريب والإبداع"، نشرة تعريفية، 1989 [0261.04.0028] |url=https://palarchive.org/index.php/Detail/objects/233600/lang/ar_PS |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=palarchive.org |language=en}}
• 1995, From Exile to Jerusalem, Al Wasiti Art Centre, Jerusalem
• 2016, Rendezvous, Zawyeh Gallery, Ramallah, Occupied Palestinian Territories{{Cite web |title=Nabil Anani - Overview |url=https://kristinhjellegjerde.com/artists/286-nabil-anani/overview/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Kristin Hjellegjerde |language=en}}
• 2018, There is a light that never goes out, at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center and Bab idDeir Art Gallery, Ramallah, OPT{{Cite web |date=April 2018 |title=Darat al Funun in Palestine |url=https://universes.art/en/nafas/articles/2018/darat-al-funun-in-palestine |access-date=December 14, 2023 |website=Universes in Universe - Worlds of Art}}
• 2019, Challenges Of Identity, Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), Beirut, Lebanon
• 2024, Gaza: Recalling the Collage of a Place, a virtual exhibition of the early works of Gazan artist Tayseer Barakat, at Zawyeh Gallery, Ramallah, OPT{{Cite web |date=July 2024 |title=Gaza: Recalling The Collage Of A Place' By Tayseer Barakat |url=https://selectionsarts.com/events/gaza-recalling-the-collage-of-a-place-by-tayseer-barakat/ |access-date= |website=Selections Arts Magazine |language=en-US}}

In 1994, the New Visions group founded the Al-Wasiti Art Centre in a renovated traditional house in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem,{{Cite web |title=Cultural Centers |url=https://www.pecdar.ps/en/article/184/Cultural-Centers |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=www.pecdar.ps}} named after Yehya Al-Wasiti, the 13th century pioneer of Arab Painting.{{Cite web |last=NYU Abu Dhabi |first=Archives and Special Collections Repository |date=26 Jan 2025 |title=Palestine: Al Wasiti Art Center (Jerusalem), 1994-1996 |url=https://archivesspace.nyuad.nyu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/20290 |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=archivesspace.nyuad.nyu.edu}} The art centre had a permanent collection, a library, an art education unit and a temporary exhibition space.{{Cite web |title=Tayseer Barakat |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG195189 |access-date=December 14, 2023 |website=The British Museum}} The inauguaral exhibition was, From Exile to Jerusalem (1995), and it included the works of Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Laila Shawa, Kamal Boullata and Vladimir Tamari. Sliman Mansour served as the Director from 1996-2003.{{Cite web |title=The Palestinian arts scene, an overview |url=https://www.bethlehemculturalfestival.com/event-archive/palestinian-arts-scene-overview/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=The Bethlehem Cultural Festival |language=en-GB}} In 2003, the art centre closed down; in 2005, its archive was donated to a Jerusalem-based non-profit cultural arts organisation, the Palestinian Art Court—al-Hoash, (meaning a courtyard in a traditional Palestinian architecture).{{Cite web |title=The Palestinian Art Court—al-Hoash: Connecting Palestinian Artists with the World |url=https://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/blog/palestinian-art-court-al-hoash-connecting-palestinian-artists-world |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250109112908/https://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/blog/palestinian-art-court-al-hoash-connecting-palestinian-artists-world |archive-date=2025-01-09 |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Jerusalem Story Project |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=YURA– Palestinian Visual Art Resources |url=https://thisweekinpalestine.com/yura-palestinian-visual-art-resources/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=This Week in Palestine |language=en-US}} The archive now forms the basis of Yura — Palestinian Visual Art Resources Program, the first digital platform Palestinian digital arts, supported by the A. M. Qattan Foundation, which launched in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Local Art Center Launches the First Digital Platform for Palestinian Visual Arts |url=https://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/blog/local-art-center-launches-first-digital-platform-palestinian-visual-arts |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240811191124/https://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/blog/local-art-center-launches-first-digital-platform-palestinian-visual-arts |archive-date=2024-08-11 |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Jerusalem Story Project |language=en}}

Meanwhile, New Visions artist, Vera Tamari, co-founded the BirZeit University Ethnographic Museum in 2005, further demonstrating the ongoing legacy of the New Vision art group in Palestinian cultural life.{{Cite web |title=Vera Tamari |url=http://museum.birzeit.edu/artists/vera-tamari |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=museum.birzeit.edu}}

New Visions artists focused on iconic representations of Palestinian culture and pastoral life. Yazid Anani recalls that these included representations of important aspects of Palestinian culture, traditional and contemporary: the "village, Jerusalem, refugees, the Israeli militaristic machine, prisoners, olive trees, women in embroidered traditional dresses".

Common symbols used include colors from the Palestinian flag, village scenes, Tatreez (embroidery) motifs, chains and prison bars. Works commemorating martyrs would sometimes depict specific deceased individuals or would collage images related to their lives, and were often hung at their grave or home.

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