Palestine Poster Workshop (2): History, Graphic Design, Political Solidarity
Friday 19 September 2025
Lecture on design history of posters for Palestine | 11:15-12:45 Lipsius 1.28
Atelier | 13:15-16:30 Herta Mohr 1.80
Judith Naeff and Andrea Reyes Elizondo
Open to students and staff of Leiden University.
After the successful Palestine Poster Workshop in November 2024, we will offer the same event, with a slightly different focus. We will delve again into the long tradition of political posters for Palestine. In the seventies and eighties, the Palestinian Liberation Organization regularly commissioned Palestinian, Arab, and international artists, building an impressive collection of political posters, characterized by innovative graphic design. In this workshop we will focus on the relation between text and image, looking at slogans and poetry, but also calligraphy and Letterism.
The workshop consists of two parts. The lecture discusses the design history of Palestine posters. After the break, we will take inspiration from this legacy in designing our own posters. We will work with analogue methods such as collage, lino print and paint.
Costs: €3,00 for materials: cash or by tikkie (atelier only, lecture is free)
You will receive your original poster and a quality scan for printing copies.
Please bring your own lunch for the break.
Clockwise from top left: Design: (1) Emile Menhem. Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), app. 1982. Source: Palestine Poster Project Archives. “..because the storm promised me wine and new toasts I have been serenading happiness” Mahmoud Darwish; (2) Artist unknown. Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), app. 1970. Source: Palestine Poster Project Archives. Text: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [from a poem by Mahmoud Darwish:] “Oh my intractable wound My homeland is not a suitcase and I am not a traveler I am the lover and the land is the beloved” Hail the people of Lebanon who remain steadfast in the south; (3) Riyad Hamad. 2012. Self-published. Source: Palestine Poster Project Archives. Text: As you fix your breakfast, think of others. Don’t forget to feed the pigeons. As you fight in your wars, think of others. Don’t forget those who desperately demand peace. As you pay your water bill, think of others who drink the clouds’ rain. As you return home, your home, think of others. Don’t forget those who live in tents. As you sleep and count planets, think of others. There are people without any shelter to sleep. As you express yourself using all metaphorical expressions, think of others who lost their rights to speak. As you think of others who are distant, think of yourself and say “I wish I was a candle to fade away the darkness". Mahmoud Darwish (4) Helmi Eltouni. Palestinian Committee for African-Asian Peace and Solidarity, app. 1985. Palestine Poster Project Archives. Text: Long live the unity of struggle shared by the Palestinian people and the peoples of the Soviet Union Inspiration for the coming October Revolution.
