02 Paintings, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, with Footnotes. #71

Khaled Hourani

Bayan, (2016 Martyr), 2019

Acrylic on canvas

205 × 155 in, 520.7 × 393.7 cm

Private collection

A martyr is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a belief or cause as demanded by an external party. This refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of the martyr by the oppressor. Originally applied only to those who suffered for their religious beliefs, the term has come to be used in connection with people killed for a political cause.


Most martyrs are considered holy or are respected by their followers, becoming symbols of exceptional leadership and heroism in the face of difficult circumstances. Martyrs play significant roles in religions. Similarly, martyrs have had notable effects in secular life, including such figures as Socrates, among other political and cultural examples. More on martyrs

Bayan Ayman Al-Esseili - 16-year-old female Palestinian accused of stabbing an Israeli soldier in Hebron, near the Cave of the Patriarchs on Oct. 17, 2015. The soldier shot and killed Al-Esseili.

Khaled Hourani, Palestinian, b. 1965•

Leena, (1976 Martyr), 2019

Acrylic on canvas

80 7/10 × 61 in, 205 × 155 cm

Private collection

On May 15, 1976, a 17-year-old Lina was shot and killed by an IDF soldier while walking home from school in Nablus. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Israeli authorities stated that a stray bullet hit Lina when a soldier’s rifle went off accidentally. 

Khaled Hourani, Born in Hebron, Palestine, in 1965. Khaled Hourani lives and works in Ramallah. He was Artistic Director (2007-2010) and Director (2010-2013) of the International Academy of Art Palestine, of which he is also one of the co-founders. He previously worked as the General Director of the Fine Arts Department of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture (2004-2006). Hourani has participated in many local and international exhibitions, most recently in a retrospective at Darat Al Funun in Amman , Jordan (2017).

In 2014, his first retrospective exhibition took place at the CCA in Glasgow and Gallery One in Ramallah. He exhibited works at the Times Museum in Guangzhou, China and in the 2nd CAFA Biennale of the CAFA Museum in Beijing. He also participated in dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. Moreover, Hourani was also one of the artists of the Sharjah Biennial in 2011. Hourani was the initiator of the 2011 Picasso in Palestine project. He has curated and organized several exhibitions, is an art critic and an active member and founder of a number of cultural and art institutions. Recently, he was the recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Prize, Creative Time for Art and Social Change in New York City.

Hourani has been working for over a year on a book project, which is itself based on a novel about a painting titled Jamal Al Mahamel by Palestinian artist Suleiman Mansour. This artwork was sold to  the former Libyan president Muammar al Gaddafi in the 1970s. Through this project, Hourani seeks to figure out what happened to the painting and the circumstances of its disappearance after the 2011 political upheavals in Libya. He also raises the question of the perception of art both in Palestine and Libya. More on Khaled Hourani

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