Who We Are

Zuhier el Rajabi

Zuhier el Rajabi was born and raised in Silwan, East Jersalem. Mr. Rajabi is the head of the Batan al Hawa committee and directs the Madaa Creative Center Batan al Hawa branch. He has been arrested several times by the police after settler group Atarot Cohanim ordered his family’s eviction. The Rajabi family continues to fight eviction orders and to help his community to resist.

Manar

Manar -Project Manager and translator for I Witness Silwan - is a young Jerusalemite who is currently working as an English language teacher in an elementary school located in East Jerusalem. She loves to learn about new cultures and has a continuous passion for learning new languages. She values family, friendship and hardworking. She used to live in Silwan for over 10 years, in other words, she got to spend her "special" childhood there. As a result, even after moving out of Silwan, she still considers it a special place to visit to recall her childhood memories. The moment she heard about the painting project in Silwan, she participated without hesitation and joined the team.

Jenan

Jenan - Artist and Materials Manager for I Witness Silwan- is a young Jerusalemite who has lived in Silwan for over 18 years. She graduated with a diploma degree in Interior Design, but as a person who always aspires to achieve the best, she completed her studies and now she is only one step far from graduating with a bachelor degree.
"This is my world, I love the world of colours, painting, and art in general," she said. She loves to experience new adventures, loves to travel, loves taking photos and learn about new cultures. She values differences and believes that differences teach and add a lot of new horizons to people's lives.
She was suggested by one of her teachers to join the project and later on became a member of “I Witness Silwan” family.

Chris Gazala

2022 Master Muralist

As a Palestinian American, I learned so much more about my people’s struggle for self-determination and justice in I Witness Silwan’s mural camp. The people of Silwan were part of the project every step of the way. The occupation is their daily struggle and I witnessed what art can do. I witnessed the hope that comes along with creating a narrative seldom represented and lifted up in a world that suppresses the voices of the oppressed.

Susan Greene

Susan Greene is the director of US based Art Forces. She is an interdisciplinary artist and clinical psychologist. Her practice traverses cultural arenas including video, new media, public art and murals. Greene’s work focuses on the psychologies of space, intersections of trauma, creativity, memory, resilience and resistance. Specifically, she is concerned with the ways in which architecture and tourism reinforce and reimagine borders, migrations, environmental and racial justice and decolonization.