The Palestine Poster Project Archives were admitted by UNESCO last August to be reviewed for their Memory of the World program, an initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity that also includes the Phoenician Alphabet, the Gutenberg Bible, and Karl Marx’s manuscript of The Capital.
The nominated pieces, the Liberation Graphics Collection of Palestine Posters is Palestine’s first submission to the UNESCO program and may soon become the nation’s first internationally recognized documentary heritage. A body of 1,700 posters produced between 1960 and 1990, they represent a key period in Palestinian history, reflecting its spirit of peaceful resistance and determination from the Six-Day war through the first Intifada.
Creating a rich and textured portrayal of Palestine, “the posters show kaffiyehs, oranges and olives, horses and doves, poetry and embroidery, all mobilized to tell a story”, says the Archives curator Dan Walsh in an interview with Mondoweiss. “These and other symbols, icons, and traditions of Palestinian identity are celebrated, preserved, and legitimated in the posters.”
Viewed collectively, these posters make up a visual narrative that serves both as an educational tool and a recognition of Palestine’s identity and unparalleled spirit.
For more information: Visit the collection at the Palestine Poster Project Archives website.