The Unlimited Festival took place in London 4–5 September and celebrated the artistic vision and originality of disabled artists from the UK and beyond. We invited three partners from local cultural arts centres –Yabous Cultural Centre, Saryyet Ramallah and Al Harah Theatre – to attend the festival, opening the door for potential partnerships between UK and local Palestinian cultural centres.
The festival included the It was Paradise exhibition, an art project created by British and Palestinian artists, led by artistic director Rachel Gadsden in collaboration with lead Palestinian artist Ali Saied Ashour, emerging artists Amna Ali Hussein, Mahmoud Abu Daghash, Hosaam Khdair, filmmaker Isra Odeh and the Bereaved Women’s Group in Jerusalem. The exhibition explored the themes of migration, asylum, disability and bereavement, focusing on the effect upon individual and community and the sense of isolation and abandonment which comes from physical and psychological confinement. The cross-cultural collaboration was located in London, Liverpool and throughout the West Bank, and was inspired by the poem Under Siege by Palestinian poet and author Mahmoud Darwish.
Inspired by the beautiful West Bank landscape, ultimately the artistic ambition has been to cultivate hope, through the creation of a series of powerful, visceral and celebratory visual artworks, photographs and short films.