Palestinian artist paints pain of Gaza's suffering using make-up kit

Aseel Hassan Nasman, a 22-year-old former art student at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, has found a way to express her experiences and emotions through painting amid the devastation caused by the Israeli bombings.

"I was studying artistic education and graphic design at Al-Aqsa University, but I could not graduate due to the war," Nasman told Al Jazeera. "We were displaced when the war began, and I could not take any of my tools or paintings with me."

"We discovered our houses had been bombed, and all of my tools and paintings were gone. Years of hard work disappeared in a flash. We were displaced from Al Shifa to Khan Younis, and from Khan Younis to Rafah and back to Khan Younis. Every time were displaced, it brought great suffering," she added.

After losing her tools and paintings, Nasman stopped painting for three months. But in Rafah, she found alternative tools like makeup kits and children's painting sets.

"I initially started painting when I was [a] child. I never stopped painting, not even for a single day. I had to stop because I could not find any tools or anything to work with. Once we got to Rafah, I started searching for tools, and finally, I found some alternatives such as make-up kits and children's painting sets. I started using those tools to depict our suffering," the student of the war-torn enclave said.

Her paintings illustrate the harsh realities of war, including hunger, displacement, bombardment, destruction, and death. 

"One of my paintings is of someone who was killed in the Al Shifa massacre. I saw his decomposed body. The scene marked me greatly."

Nasman's art is a cry for help, a plea for the one-sided war to end.

"We are suffering so much, and no one feels our pain. Every day, people are being killed, mothers are losing their children and children are losing their parents. We are exhausted. I hope that the war will end. I really hope someone puts an end to it."