LAILA SHAWA INSIDE PARADISE
Katarzyna Jackowska
TRAFO CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
The exhibition presents works by the iconic Palestinian artist Laila Shawa (1940–2022), whose art fused Islamic ornament and Western pop culture into a sharp, trans-cultural critique of power. Her distinctive idiom—often called Islamo-Pop—repurposed inherited forms to expose systems of violence that cross political and cultural borders.
Born in Gaza and educated in Cairo, Rome, and Salzburg, Shawa drew equally on religious iconography, political trauma, and global media. Printmaking played a central role in her practice, enabling her to multiply images and democratise artistic expression. Series such as Walls of Gaza transformed the medium into an act of collective witnessing and resistance.
Throughout her career, Shawa addressed patriarchal, colonial, and religious oppression, linking the body of a woman with the body of the land—both violated and politicised. Her provocative works, including Breast Bombs and Disposable Bodies, reveal how the female form is commodified and weaponised in global culture.
Beyond the studio, she was a tireless advocate for women’s rights, education, and cultural life in Gaza, helping to establish the Rashad Shawa Cultural Centre. Her art—both beautiful and defiant—reminds us that seeing is inseparable from the responsibility of the viewer.
More about the exhibition: https://trafo.art/laila-shawaw-srodku-raju/
