Billboard project in Ramallah

Ramallah has 27,000 inhabitants, is located in the West Bank approximately 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, and is the home of the Palestinian Authority.

In 2012, the billboard project WE ARE FROM HERE (Ehna men hon) was shown in the streets of Ramallah. Five Palestinian visual artists, Lucia Ahmad, Rana Bishara, Asma Ghanem, Tanya Habjouqa and Omaya Salman, celebrated International Women’s Day (8 March) by presenting their personal and artistic proposals for an image of women in public space.

Billboards are very widespread in Ramallah and the majority of the city space is wallpapered with adverts. On the other hand, they hadn’t been used in an artistic context which in itself thematised the power and content of the advertisements. WE ARE FROM HERE (Ehna men hon) challenged the Palestinian stereotyping of gender roles, since women got the chance to express themselves in public space on entirely their own premises.