Gaza Lives: Resisting Cultural Genocide by Kontinentalist

Amid the staggering loss of life and urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza lies the catastrophic destruction of places integral to Palestinian life. This story, done in collaboration with Visualizing Palestine, presents the devastating impact of the ongoing genocide on Palestinian cultural life and heritage, and the systematic methods of erasure employed by the Israeli state since 1948. Told in three chapters, this story showcases how the act of genocide entails not just physical attacks, but attacks on the cultural survival of a people with a distinct history, identity, and story.

Chapter 1 details how Israeli forces have deliberately targeted and obliterated key elements of Gaza's cultural life, bombing ancient sites, religious monuments, personal archives, and community spaces. Using data from the Palestinian Ministry of Culture in Gaza, we mapped over 200 cultural sites destroyed from October 2023 to May 2024. We used the same dataset to reveal more information about these sites by creating a tatreez-patterned visualisation inspired by the Qowara hijab pattern from Gaza.

Chapter 2 features interviews with five Palestinian cultural practitioners from Gaza. Through their stories, we journey across three key neighbourhoods in Gaza, where each site reveals something about the city’s cultural fabric. These places offer more than just historical value; they are intrinsic to everyday life, milestones, and the pursuit of dreams.

Chapter 3 highlights the decades-long tactics of Israeli cultural destruction—a practice rooted in settler colonialism and erasure. Building upon data from Palestine Open Maps, we created a tatreez-patterned visualisation that provides more information about each village depopulated in 1948.

By incorporating traditional Palestinian embroidery, we aim to show that these places were charged with living memories, stories, and identity, while also magnifying and remembering the beauty of Palestinian culture.