Artist and photographer Nidaa Badwan turned her besiegement in Gaza into an art piece, by isolating herself in a 3 x 3 meter room for over a year.
"It's the only way I could create art in my city," Badwan says on her website .
Badwan felt as thought her rights were being stripped from her piece by piece by Hamas-ruled Gaza strip under a heavy Israeli and Egyptian imposed blockade. It culminated after she was harassed and assaulted by Hamas officers in 2013.
According Badwan, Hamas officers came to her as she was giving a youth arts workshop, chastising her for her clothing. They then physically attacked her.
A day later, she began her exhibit "100 Days of Solitude." She shut herself in her 3x3 meter room for 20 months--much more than 100 days, but still the name's literary allusion to the famous book Gabriel Garcia Marquez gives it added appeal.
The room that ultimately turned into a mini-art studio, making use of every item for her pieces. From the ladder to the clothes, Badwan turned a limited space into endless art.
"I decided to abandon the world to create my own."
The photograph series were shown for the first time at Postmasters Gallery in New York.
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars" - Kahlil Gibran
Shades of bright colors stand out in her darkest days
The heart-breaking truth about isolation
Oud strings and sounds
One end of the room became her resting place
The other end her working space
Walls to match the covers
A beam of sunlight and hope
