Hana's Heart

These are lonely nights.  Laying in the dark,  staring at the ceiling  and remembering the good old days.  These are lonely nights.  Looking at a house full of people  who make you bloody irritated,  while feeling empty and incomplete.   These are lonely nights.  Feeling unfulfilled after seeing  countless images of people  being happy, successful and glamorous. These are lonely nights. Reaching out to a good friend  who immediately makes you laugh  without even having to try.  These are lonely nights.  Thinking of a better future to come, being excited for new places to see and new people to meet.  These are lonely nights.  They are rough, but indeed, the  cycle of moon and sun is constant,  so this, too, shall pass.

  drawn by me Abdullah Khader is an elderly Palestinian man from Beit Hanina, Occupied East Jerusalem, Palestine. The Israeli Supreme Court has allowed his house to be demolished in order for a new house to be built for Jewish settlers.  The decision made by the Israeli Supreme Court has caused Abdullah Khader to suffer from a stroke, which paralysed him. Khader has lived in this house since he was a kid. His son and grandchildren grew up in the same house too.  In a video which can be found on @trtworld and @eye.on.palestine via Instagram, Abdullah Khader was shown sitting in his car while watching his house being demolished. When asked if he has a message for the world, he responded with, "We are steadfast. This is our land. It's our life."

  drawn by me  Red, blue and green kites for the colours of the flag of Afghanistan.  Kites flying in the sky is a reference to The Kite Runner , written by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini.  " I dream that lawla flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again and rubab music will play in the samovar houses and kites will fly in the skies. And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you."  - Hassan's letter to Amir

I wait for  you as the sun rises and as it sets. I wait for you as the full moon comes and as it goes. I wait for you as the year begins and as it ends. I wait for you, still hoping you'd come and knowing how you're always late. I wait for you, even though we talk only once in a blue moon. 

    Background Information   Ugur Gallenkus is a Turkish digital artist known for his work where he juxtaposes two very different photographs and finalises them as one picture. The nature of the two photographs are always very different: one of them would mostly involve a tragic scene from a war-zone, whereas the other one would normally show a more “peaceful” lifestyle that wealthier and luckier people live. In addition to his digital arts, Ugur Gallenkus has also published a book titled Parallel Universes of Children. The book contains his finalised photographs, quotes and statistics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   I discovered the work of Ugur Gallenkus, a Turkish digital artist, around March or April of 2019.  I was 15 years old and still in high school. At that time, I was opening my eyes to many of the issues happening around the world, such as the civil war in Syria (and the subsequent refugee crisis), th...

You had an agenda, according to them,  so they killed you there - in Bethlehem.  I never knew who you were,  nor have I seen a picture.  I only saw you shrouded in a white sheet  near an ambulance van on the street.  You are one of many,  and to die, there will still be plenty.  That's the reality when you live with thieves  who are the innocent ones, as many still perceive.  - Inspired by the death of Atallah Mohammad Rayan -