Palestine in Color: The Manifestation of Existence, the Struggle of Spectra, and the Reflection of a Collective Identity
By: Ahmed Fathi Ahmed Kalab
There is a striking truth that may seem, at first glance, merely a visual paradox: objects in this universe do not possess colors inherent to themselves; rather, 'the color of an object' is the only bundle of light that it refuses to absorb and reflects to your eyes. The tree is not green in its essence; it retains all light spectra and gifts you the green to recognize its presence through it. Color, in its essence, is vibration and frequency, just as sound is vibration and frequency; every sound has a visual echo, and every color has an auditory impact. Thus, simply put: color is not an external coating, but rather the living effect and reflection that a body exerts on its surroundings to affirm its existence and identity.
In visual arts, colors do not stand idly by but engage in a lively dialogue; colors clash, unite, complement, and complete one another. The scene begins with a struggle of contrast and disparity to define features, and as the discord intensifies, complementary colors intervene to fill the void and create a stunning visual balance that makes the painting a cohesive whole.
This push and harmony of color is not an exercise confined to the rituals of painting; it is the essence of Palestine and its terrains. When we sail through Palestine questioning its color, we trace the reflection of this land that has shaped the world's consciousness. Its presence begins from its rocky solidity; from its ancient stone, the whiteness of its mountain ranges, the limestone gray on the slopes of Jerusalem and Nablus, the black flint on the northern peaks, and the desert pink on the slopes of the Negev. These rocky masses do not stand alone; they clash and integrate with the gradient greenery of its vegetation; the silver of the ancient olive trees, the freshness of the golden wheat fields in Marj Ibn Amer and the southern plains, and the blackness of the virgin clay soil in the fertile valleys.
Then the earth explodes with vibrant color masses as if emerging from a superlative light spectrum; from the glowing red of the anemones covering the slopes, to the black and velvety beauty of the Gilboa iris and the royal Faqou’a iris, the blue of the cat's eye, the yellow of the dandelion, and the mustard flowers that blanket the meadows in spring like a carpet of pure light. These harmonies extend towards its diverse water bodies; from the turquoise of the sea and its deep blue on the shores of Gaza, Jaffa, and Acre, to the greenery along the Jordan River, the clear waters of Lake Tiberias, reaching the clarity of the dark salt and its shining silver in the Dead Sea.
However, Palestine reaches its peak of completeness through its relationship with the sky; as a place of revelation and a spiritual ascension, it has been imbued with a divine light that transcends the visible color degrees, touching the ethereal light spectra that cannot be seen with the naked eye but are perceived with insight. This radiant spiritual center has made the hearts of the world turn towards it; civilizations and nationalities have come to it and blended on its soil; from the early Canaanites, the Arameans, the Byzantines, to the Arab conquerors, Armenians, Circassians, Bosnians, Moroccans, and Africans who settled in the outskirts and alleys of Jerusalem. Every nation that passed through or settled here left its mark and culture, not to obscure the features of the land, but to merge into its fabric and complete its colors, until Palestine became the homeland towards which the compass of the entire world points.
Here we arrive at the grand visual truth: Palestine is all colors. It is not a tone trapped in a single shadow, but the complete ocean in which the colors of rock, soil, rose, plant, river, sea, sky, and the history of nations merge; they harmonize and complete each other to create a unifying light that cannot be obscured.
Our responsibility today in the unity of culture and arts, in conjunction with every energy and will within our Parliament, is to translate this vast spectrum into a comprehensive visual and digital project that preserves the voices of the land and its rocks, and addresses the world in a language of sovereignty and cultural integration that befits Palestine: the homeland that encompasses all colors of existence.
