On Enduring Forms: The Art of Mohammed Joha
Presented alongside Houselessness, Zawyeh Gallery Dubai, 16 November - 11 January 2026
On Formative Years and Identity
“I am a Palestinian visual artist. I was born, raised, and educated in the city of Gaza, where my thoughts and convictions as both a human being and an artist were shaped.”
From his earliest years, Joha’s creative journey unfolded amid political, social, and cultural upheaval. The streets and classrooms of Gaza became his first studios: “Childhood, school, and the streets were all spaces that nurtured my early discovery of art. I took my first steps with a pencil on paper even before entering my first classroom.”
For Joha, art remains an evolving pursuit: “I am still learning and constantly striving to deepen my artistic practice and research. ... For me, art remains a lifelong journey of discovery — a way to translate memory, emotion, and resilience into form and color.”
On Being a Palestinian Voice
Joha defines his identity through an unbreakable bond with his homeland:
“As a Palestinian artist, I belong to a just cause that has long inspired the solidarity of free people across the world. I carry a profound sense of pride and an unshakable bond with this ancient and blessed land.”
This bond, he insists, is both a source of pride and a guiding responsibility: “Art preserves memory, reveals truth, and resists oblivion. Through my work, I strive to bear witness to the struggles of my people, the realities of my homeland, and the universal human longing for freedom and dignity.”
On Education and Influence
After earning a degree in Art Education from Al-Aqsa University in 2003, Joha attended the Darat al Funun - Khaled Shoman Summer Academy in Amman under the mentorship of the late Marwan Kassab-Bachi. These contrasting environments-academic and intimate-profoundly shaped his development.
“The university gave me the chance to explore, research, and immerse myself in a structured academic setting... This pushed me to pursue my research and practice independently, with greater freedom and a more contemporary approach. Perhaps the deepest influence on my understanding of contemporary art came from the personal mentorship of the late great artist Marwan Kassab-Bashi in early 2003.”
Life in exile and years of work in Europe further expanded this artistic consciousness, reinforcing the fusion between discipline and liberation in his art.
On Material and Meaning
Joha’s distinctive collage technique, incorporating cloth, paper, and cardboard, evolved both from necessity and intention. “My relationship with materials and the way I work with them is deeply connected to the subject of my research.”
He finds poetry in the discarded and the everyday: “I use textiles, paper, and carton—materials that are familiar yet often discarded as waste—but I repurpose them in new contexts.” The tactile, layered compositions invite both intimacy and universality: “I believe that the art I create belongs to everyone, regardless of culture, language, or background.”
Even as collage dominates his practice, painting remains foundational: “I draw in collage as I draw in color,” he notes, describing a continuum between pigment and texture, form and substance.
On Architecture and Displacement
Architecture functions in Joha’s work as both framework and metaphor. His Houseless series transforms urban structures into reflections of human resilience: “The contrast between solidity and fragility in my work reflects a sense of renewal and continuity within the Palestinian condition.”
He elaborates: “The tent, for instance, may wear out and collapse, yet it is rebuilt time and again... life persists, repeating itself within the same narrow circle.”
This cyclical rebuilding forms the foundation for what he calls the idea of “Solidicity” — “a city that endures even in ruin, and remains resilient within its own fragility.”
On ‘Sleeplessness’ (2024)
In contrast to the density of his collages, the painting Sleepless (2024) offers a quieter, inward gaze. Joha returns here to acrylics to explore intimacy and absence: “During these periods, I painted the bedroom, the empty bed, and simple domestic details... reflecting sleep or its absence, driven by fear, insomnia, and the sounds of explosions and bombs.”
He draws on Mahmoud Darwish’s reflection: “Even sleep knows how to flee when we need it, just like everyone else.”
On ‘Houselessness’, The New Exhibition
Joha’s 2025 exhibition Houselessness redefines collage as “an architecture of rupture and reassembly, both a method and a metaphor.” The works draw from fragments of his own displaced life — “scraps of fabric, paper, cardboard, plastic and other salvaged materials - textures pulled from shattered environments and fragments of personal history.”
The artist himself was forced to flee Gaza, leaving behind his family, friends, and more than 500 paintings “now buried beneath the rubble.” His creative process, he says, is “an iterative act of healing and comprehension — one which is both personal and collective.”
“We are without houses, not without a home. Our home is Gaza,” Joha asserts. Amid destruction, he insists on beauty’s endurance: “Between the grey and amid the cramped, collaged settlements are glimpses of vivid colour... remnants of life, of domestic intimacy, of a world before its most recent devastation.”
On Art as Testimony
Joha’s new exhibition is a record of grief and witness. “I witness my city crumbling before my eyes, lives snuffed out on screens, scenes that feel like the horrors of the Day of Judgment.” For him, the show is “not merely art; it is a visual testimony... revealing the overwhelming destruction and the tragedy that has consumed all that was once alive and beautiful.”
Among the works is Rashad Al Shawwa Cultural Centre - Gaza, a collage memorializing the destroyed landmark. “It was the first and oldest cultural center in the heart of Gaza City... a gathering place for all artists in the region,” he recalls. “It was brutally destroyed... beneath the rubble lay my memories.”
On Looking Forward
Joha remains steadfast in his purpose: “I hope my message reaches the world, amplifying the voice of my people and my community. I want to remind everyone that art is, above all, a human message.”
As he looks to the future, experimentation continues to drive his vision. “I am working diligently to explore new materials and media... to go slightly beyond the frame of the canvas and the wall, extending into different spaces, including the floor.”
With this, he closes: “All these questions circulating in my mind will be translated into new ideas that you will see soon, God willing.”