Gabrielle Bejani, a Lebanese Palestinian artist based in South London, created a series of works responding to the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that was quickly broken by Israeli fire in Khiam. The series, exhibited as "Deliberate Dreams" at Beirut's Saleh Barakat Gallery in July 2025, uses painting, drawing, and collage to process grief, anger, and guilt over the violence. Bejani incorporates everyday cultural items like bougainvillea and 20th-century Lebanese postage stamps, reclaiming darkness as a metaphor for identity and resistance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's characterization of Palestinians as "children of darkness."
The series matters because it marks a shift in Bejani's practice from personal explorations of gender and family history to direct engagement with land, statehood, and liberation, catalyzed by the genocide in Gaza and Israel's bombing of Lebanon. Her work reflects a broader trend of artists using art as psychological survival amid ongoing conflict, and it challenges Western perceptions by asserting Palestinian identity through physical space and cultural memory. The exhibition also highlights the role of Beirut's art scene in hosting politically urgent work.