Ten first names, ten faces, ten live - eight of them violently killed by a war that has not been haunted by the Gaza Strip only since 2023. The exhibition "Gaza" is dedicated to these ten people, not as mere names in statistics, but as individuals with biographies, families, hopes, professions and dreams.
Exhibition "Gaza" extended until 29.8.25
Together of them, fate is common to have been killed by Israeli air strikes - as civilians, mostly in their houses, in clinics or on the run. They were artists, had children or were parents, teachers or journalists. They did not die in combat, but in everyday life in Gaza.
The art exhibition "Gaza" by Matthew Collings in the 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 was extended until 29.8.25.
Each of the ten people depicted was previously part of a society under siege, characterized by decades of isolation, institutionalized violence and everyday life under constant threat. What she unites in her death is not only the date or the place, but the fact that they were not forgotten - their names were written down, their faces painted, their stories shared. They gave their suffering a voice.
Fadwa. Fatima. Hala. Hiba. Heba. Nour. Mohammed. Saleem. Refaat. & Mosab - ten first names, ten faces, ten lives - eight of them violently killed by the war.
Matthew Collings painted them. His portraits forego drama, pain depending on political statements. Instead, they are looking for the quiet conversation with the viewer: through the face of a boy, the smile of a woman, the view of a poet. They are memories of people with dreams, wishes, hopes that were ruthlessly wiped out or survive in the diaspora.
"They were artists, had children or were parents, teachers or journalists. They did not die in battle, but in everyday life in Gaza."
The series becomes a picturesque, silent, awesome form of commemoration - a worthy obituary and call in oil on canvas. It is a collective witness for a reality in which the human face appears and also accuses the human face in the middle of destruction - as what it remains: the visible trace of a life that should never have ended.
The exhibition can still be seen in the Verena Kerfin Gallery , Köthener Straße 28 in Berlinuntil August 29, 2025
About the artist Matthew Collings
The British artist Matthew Collings deals intensively with the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza with this series of images.
Colling's artistic practice is all about human loss through military violence. He addresses the destruction of families, schools, cultural locations and everyday life in his works. His quiet portraits are particularly moving, for example by the Palestinian artist Heba Zagout , who was killed in an air raid together with two of her children in 2023.
What does Colling's works so urgently do? His paintings show no direct war scenes, but calm pictures of the loss and disappearance. He takes stories like Zagout as a starting point to reflect on death, pain and wiped out life. In one of her last public appearances, she said that art was her way to express Palestinian identity - a thought that collings lived on in his work.
"Gaza" is also a protest and reflection on the costs of the war. Collings reminds us that these costs are always paid by civilians with their lives. His art gives the supposedly nameless and forgotten a face and a dignity that remains.
Verena Kerfin Gallery - space for silent certificates
In the middle of the urban Berlin art events, Verena Kerfin Gallery established itself as a place for critical contemporary positions. In their rooms at Köthener Straße 28 in Kreuzberg, exhibitions that extend beyond the art of art develop regularly.
The gallery, which regularly commutes between international art fairs and local exhibition projects, currently sets an unmistakable sign against forgetting with "Gaza".
What the Berlin gallery particularly distinguishes is their courage to present politically explosive topics not sensationalist, but with quiet dignity. The rooms offer a place of reflection and silent dialogue between viewers and the portrayed people.
The gallery, which is open from Monday to Friday from 12 noon to 6 p.m., pursues an ambitious exhibition program . Before "Gaza" she showed "Arcadia: Often Dreamt, Seldom Lived" and "Tight and Loose" , which illustrates the range of the curatorial concept. Verena Kerfin Gallery makes it clear that art not only meet aesthetic demands, but can also assume social responsibility.
Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza . Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011. Successful conclusion in web design as part of a university degree (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expression painting and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.
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![The art exhibition "Gaza" by Matthew Collings in the 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 was extended until 29.8.25.](https://kunstplaza.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/web-018-Matthew-Collings.jpg ""Gaza" - ten first names, ten faces, ten live in the Verena Kerfin Gallery exhibitions of anti -war art")
![Fadwa. Fatima. Hala. Hiba. Heba. Nour. Mohammed. Saleem. Refaat. & Mosab - Ten first names, ten faces, ten lives - eight of them violently killed by the war.](https://kunstplaza.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/web-019-Matthew-Collings.jpg ""Gaza" - ten first names, ten faces, ten live in the Verena Kerfin Gallery exhibitions of anti -war art")
!["They were artists, had children or were parents, teachers or journalists. They did not die in battle, but in everyday life in Gaza."](https://kunstplaza.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/web-010-Matthew-Collings.jpg ""Gaza" - ten first names, ten faces, ten live in the Verena Kerfin Gallery exhibitions of anti -war art")
![Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza . Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011.](https://kunstplaza.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joachim_portrait_digitaldrawn_cut-e1588853578145.jpg ""Gaza" - ten first names, ten faces, ten live in the Verena Kerfin Gallery exhibitions of anti -war art")
