Ammar Abu Shamala: We have succeeded in selling about 200 paintings since the project started three weeks ago The couple have also created pages on social media platforms to help promote their artistic work GAZA STRIP: A cash-strapped Palestinian couple forced to close their Gazan art gallery have come up with a novel way of selling their paintings – by converting an old van into a mobile exhibition center. Deteriorating economic conditions in Gaza coupled with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak had left Ammar Abu Shamala and his wife Arwa with no choice but to shut their permanent gallery. But with a family of six to support, the couple was determined to find a way of overcoming their dire financial situation and hatched the idea of renting a van and turning it into a display unit for their artworks. The pair, both in their early 30s and who live in the Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah, now tour the streets, squares, and main markets in the Gaza Strip with their mobile art exhibition titled, “a picture and souvenir.” “Since the closing of our permanent showroom, due to a lack of demand from buyers and our inability to pay the rent for the property, we have experienced tragic conditions,” said Abu Shamala, whose wife spends hours every day producing works of art in a makeshift studio inside their small house. “The difficult circumstances were our motivation to think of an innovative and unfamiliar solution, and we came up with the idea of the mobile exhibition. My wife is talented in drawing, and has a fine artist friend, and I help them in making frames and printing paintings. “We have succeeded in selling about 200 paintings since the project started three weeks ago, and we hope that conditions will improve and a culture of love for art will flourish,” he added. Prices for the paintings range between $4 and $10, and the couple have also created pages on social media platforms to help promote their artistic work. So far, they have been delighted with the level of interest shown, especially considering they are selling in a market where 1 million people depend on humanitarian and relief assistance to survive. Arwa, who has been drawing as a hobby since she was five years old, said that she liked doing landscape paintings of trees and flowers that inspired hope and optimism, while she also drew the faces of famous personalities and portraits of local people. “Art and drawing for me was always a hobby. I enjoy them, and I love to keep my drawings and not sell them. But the circumstances have forced me to do so,” she added. Despite having to give up their university studies due to the high cost of tuition fees, the couple still have hope of a better life and future for their children. “I don’t want my children to live our lives and taste the bitterness of poverty and deprivation,” she said.