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Eltiqa (Arabic for “encounter”) is an artist collective from Gaza City founded in 2000. For over twenty years, Eltiqa members have developed artistic practices together – including the setting up of a dedicated exhibition and workshop space in Gaza City, and supporting younger generations of artists through workshops, exhibitions and by offering a space to meet and dialogue. Eltiqa artists include Mohamed Abusal, Abdel Raouf Al-Ajouri, Mohammed Al-Hawajri, Raed Issa, Dina Matar and Sohail Salem. 

The exhibition, Eltiqa: How to Work Together? includes a selection of Eltiqa’s artworks spanning several years of collaboration. The artworks are collected from various locations worldwide, remaining safe and intact – sometimes over many years – thanks to a trusted network of individuals and institutions that safeguarded them. Some artworks produced and exhibited years ago remained with institutions and individuals because of the difficulty of returning them to Gaza. Meanwhile, other works were transported out of Gaza by artists and their respective networks during the ongoing genocide.  

Included in the exhibition is an annotated timeline that traces the history of Eltiqa – the collective’s formation and early days, their efforts at creating structures of support for themselves and others, and the historical, political and personal events that have marked their lives as a collective and as individuals. Through anecdotes recounted by members of Eltiqa and research conducted by The Question of Funding collective, the displayed narratives accentuate Eltiqa’s practice and survival amid political, social, economic and personal distress.  

This presentation is part of a long-term collaboration between The Question of Funding collective and Eltiqa. A previous iteration of the exhibition was conceived for documenta15 (2022), and an expanded display was shown in the Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 5 February to 20 July 2025. 

Curated by The Question of Funding a collective of artists and cultural producers from Palestine and beyond, the collective researches the economic structures of art and aims to produce new economic models for cultural production.


About the Artists

Mohamed Abusal
Mohamed Abusal (b. 1976, Gaza) is a contemporary artist and founding member of Eltiqa whose works address reality in the besieged Gaza Strip, and offer imaginative interventions and prospects for transformation in his homeland. His acclaimed works include: A Metro in Gaza (2012), a series of images and installations that envision options of installing a better transportation system in the Gaza Strip linking Gaza to Jerusalem, and Shambar (2013), which explores how Gazans deal with continuous electricity cuts, and create makeshift lighting for different purposes.

Abdel Raouf Al-Ajouri
Abdel Raouf Al-Ajouri (b.1977, Gaza) was born in the Jabalia Refugee Camp of Gaza. Al-Ajouri is a founding member of Eltiqa and has been an influential figure in building the art ecology of Gaza. Together with co-members of Eltiqa, Mohammad Al Hawajri and Raed Issa, he supported the establishment of the Fine Art Program of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza. In 2009, Al-Ajouri received his BA in Fine Arts from Al-Aqsa University. Al-Ajouri’s paintings exhibit a distinct style of abstract figuration that accentuates the enduring spirit of people from Palestine. Al-Ajouri is still based in Gaza.

Mohammad Al-Hawajri
Mohammad Al-Hawajri, (b.1976, Gaza) was born in the Bureij Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip in 1976. In 2002, Al-Hawajri co-founded Eltiqa and has been a driving force in establishing the group’s exhibition and education programming. He is also one of the founders of the Fine Art Programme in the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Al-Hawajri’s work primarily consists of painting, which often appears vivid and animated despite the sombre subject matter which points to the haunting quality of life under siege in Gaza. He is married to Dina Mater, another member of the Eltiqa group. Al Hawajri is currently based in Sharjah, where he lives with his wife and children.

Raed Issa
Raed Issa (b.1975, Gaza) was born in the Bureij Refugee Camp in Gaza City. Issa is a key figure in Gaza’s contemporary art scene, a co-founder of the Fine Art Program at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and a founding member of the Eltiqa group. His practice explores themes of vulnerability, loss and bereavement of living under siege and war. Issa’s works are embedded with the collective trauma of Palestinians expelled from the villages and towns of Palestine. Issa is still based in Gaza.

Dina Matar
Dina Matar (b. 1985, Gaza)’s paintings often incorporate bright colours and idyllic scenes of Palestinian life. Matar weaves traditional motifs and ornamentation throughout her paintings to signal the perseverance and resistance of Palestinian people. Her subjects are often female- centred, and represent the celebration and struggle of Palestinian women. Matar joined Eltiqa in 2004. She is married to Mohammed Al-Hawajri, another member of the Eltiqa group, and is currently based in Sharjah where she lives with her husband and children.

Sohail Salem
Sohail Salem (b. 1974, Gaza) is a co-founder and member of Eltiqa. Salem received his B.A. in Fine Arts from Al-Aqsa University in 1999, and a few years later in 2002, with his efforts Eltiqa launched their platform. Salem’s practice, particularly in recent years, can be described as agile and reactive, often incorporating conventional materials available to him. His work addresses the traumas of war from a first-hand perspective of his encounters in Gaza. Salem is still based in Gaza.


About The Question of Funding

The Question of Funding is a growing collective of cultural producers and community organizers from Palestine. By producing, documenting, accumulating, and disseminating resources, experience, and knowledge with their wider community, it aims to rethink the economy of funding and how it affects cultural production both in Palestine and the world.

The Question of Funding members, curators for this exhibition:

Lara Khaldi is from Jerusalem, Palestine and currently based in Amsterdam. She is the director of the contemporary art space de Appel. She was part of the curatorial team of documenta 15, and the head of the Media Studies Programme at Alquds Bard College, Jerusalem and a tutor in the Disarming Design MA program, at Sandberg Institute, 2020-2022

Yazan Khalili is an Architect, Visual Artist, Cultural Producer. He works in and out of Palestine, currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he is a PhD candidate at Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam. In 2020 he co-founded Radio Alhara, and in 2019 he co-founded The Question of Funding collective.