Born in Al Bureij refugee camp in 1976, Mohammed Hawajri’s works explore themes of war, exile, and resistance. A founding member of the Eltiqa Group, a collective formed for the confluence of contemporary art, Hawajri uses different configurations of graphics, photography, and color to depict his poignant messages.
Cacti occupy a significant position in the Palestinian geography. Palestinian farmers use it as a fence and enclosure for their properties. It still grows very beautifully in many Palestinian villages against many occasional annexations by the Israeli occupation starting from Al-Nakba (or the catastrophe) until today.
Hawajri has developed his own ideation of the cactus – something akin to the human head. Its strong fortitude to survive within extremely sordid environments, and to stay persistent in the ground, typifies life in Gaza. Inspirational and conducive to creative art, the cactus motif is a recurring one in his works.
Its hard shape and appearance contradict its interior component storing water and blooming with flowers and fruits. Despite its fragile structure, the cactus has sharp nails as defensive power to any assault. Drawing inspiration from this plant for its exclusiveness in the life of Palestinians and for the nature of its existence, Hawajri attempts to articulate his affection toward this plant, and therefore his people, through his visual art.
Cactus themes take a very dear place in the artist’s studio as he tries to highlight every possible potential of this plant. As much as it is an authentic figure, it occupies many contemporary artworks as a dominant theme. However, Israeli efforts try to attribute the cactus as a symbol of their identity as many Israeli artists try to include cactus as marketing their ideological Zionism to suggest their right to the land of Palestine.
Most Palestinian artists have shared with Hawajri their belief of the cactus being a representation of Palestinians in their patience and long term of determination (the word for cactus and patience are of the same root in the Arabic language). The artist considers the cactus as an eye-witness to the many Israeli violations against the Palestinian people and will always form one of its rich geographical components. Cacti continue to bloom in Palestine as they patiently await Palestinian farmers to cultivate their land with love. These are the borders of cactus as signified through Hawajri’s artworks.