‘It will never be home’: Artist Sandra Watfa on Palestine, genocide and growing up in England
Mariam Amini | Physical upheaval has been a defining characteristic of the Palestinian experience. Amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, the Palestinian artist reflects on her family’s own displacement from Akka and her journey to the UK | The door opens to a bundle of curly, silver hair. Wearing a black hoodie and leggings, Sandra Watfa offers an inviting smile as she clears the entrance to her London home. ■ Inside, the aura is one of purposeful zen. Ocean blue walls and patterned cushions evoke a sense of longing for the Levantine coast. “I was born in Lebanon by the sea,” says Watfa, about the palette. “I didn’t know anything other than that.” She brings over a white mug patterned with tiny Palestinian flags at its base. A plate of baklava and ginger biscuits dresses the table. ■ “Growing up in a Palestinian family, you begin to understand the repercussions of being in a country that is not your own,” she says. ■ Watfa’s parents fled Akka during the Nakba of 1948, which saw the Zionist dispossession of Palestinian land to establish the Israeli state. With the family having found refuge in Lebanon, where the artist was born, the onset of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 led to a second exodus.“We ended up in Greece, which oddly enough, made Lebanon feel like home. A year and a half later, we came here, which made Athens feel like home.” ■ Physical upheaval has been a defining characteristic of the Palestinian experience. For many Palestinians, the search for safety and belonging continues today, as demonstrated by the ongoing displacement and killing of Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war in October. “I didn’t speak a word of English. It literally felt like landing on a different planet. The weather, the coldness of the people - it was very difficult at first.” (More @ Middle East Eye)