Olive Trees
Fine Art Print by Sam Lo
2025
Total Edition of 100
Dimensions: 12" X 12" and 16" x 16" print
Medium: Giclee print on acid-free textured watercolour paper
Individually signed, numbered and embossed
*This is a pre-order print
All profits from the sale of these prints go to Loveaidsg to support their humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
________________________________________
"If the olive trees knew the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears." -Mahmoud Darwish
This piece was created as a tribute to the deep connection Palestinians hold with their land- a remembrance of their culture, their produce, and the enduring symbols of their identity. Each element in the composition represents a story of belonging, resilience, and memory tied to the soil of Palestine: watermelon, Jaffa oranges, olives, and the Battiri eggplant.
Watermelons grow across Palestine, from Jenin to Gaza, and has become one of the most recognisable symbols of Palestinian resistance. Red, green, white, and black of the watermelon mirror those of the Palestinian flag. After 1967, when displaying the flag was banned under Israeli occupation, the watermelon took its place as an emblem of defiance and identity.
Jaffa oranges speak to a time before the 1948 Nakba when Palestinian agriculture thrived. They symbolise both prosperity and loss as well as a memory of home, livelihood, and pride. For many, the orange represents a homeland seized yet never forgotten. As Ghassan Kanafani wrote in The Land of Sad Oranges, they embody grief, nostalgia, and an unbroken link to Palestine.
Olives have long been the heart of Palestinian life. Some trees thousands of years old, passed down through generations. They represent steadfastness, heritage, and endurance in the face of dispossession. As painter Sliman Mansour expressed, the olive tree mirrors the resilience of a people who continue to live and create under immense hardship.
Battiri eggplants honour the village of Battir, a UNESCO World Heritage site celebrated for its unique terraced landscape and its famed eggplants. For Edward Said, who wrote about them in After the Last Sky, Battiri eggplants were a taste of home he could no longer return to; a tender connection between memory, exile, and identity.
The produce rests against a blue-and-white ceramic pattern inspired by traditional Palestinian pottery and Islamic art.
Available in either 12" or 16", all profits from the sale of these prints go to Loveaidsg to support their humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
