"With the start of Ramadan just days away, artist Hani Dahman began painting murals on the rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military, adorning the remnants of his city of Khan Younis with symbols of empathy and community that define the holy month. On February 6, children watched as he painted messages onto the concrete slab of a collapsed building, including a colorful fanous lantern typically used to decorate and illuminate homes during Ramadan. (photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)"
"With her typical flair, Nilsson responded to such a framework by advancing it, further undermining the canonical fetishization of women by privileging the quotidian build of the mall-walker. Her contribution to the Menil Drawing Institute's Wall Drawing Series, Drawing (2025), features a cast of lubberly figures engaged in clumsy gymnastics-a charming sequence of pratfalls that becomes a (seriously sexy!) flirtation,"
Murals painted on rubble in Khan Younis employ Ramadan symbols and messages to infuse destroyed urban fabric with empathy and communal meaning; a colorful fanous lantern and painted messages transform a collapsed concrete slab into a site of shared ritual, observed by children. At 85, Gladys Nilsson produces drawings and a Menil Drawing Institute wall piece that privilege fleshy, unruly female bodies and quotidian figures over canonical ideals; the works resuscitate classical beauty while unsettling fetishization by celebrating the mall-walker's build. Her drawings stage lubberly figures in clumsy gymnastics that become a flirtatious, sensual choreography.
Read at Hyperallergic
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