The Bethlehem artist and activist Taqi Spateen painted the new Aaron Bushnell mural at the Palestine Museum<\/a> in Woodbridge, Connecticut in just 48 hours.<\/h5>\n

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Hadani Ditmars<\/h4>\n

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The first American tour of Bethlehem-based artist Taqi Spateen<\/a> is neatly bisected by the unveiling of a new mural at the Palestinian Museum U.S. in Woodbridge, Connecticut. The work was revealed on the July 4^{th<\/sup> weekend, the patriotic pomp of the holiday unfolding in sharp relief to Spateen\u2019s portrait of the late Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old U.S. Airforce serviceman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in DC, on February 25, 2024, to protest his nation\u2019s complicity in genocide. Through his dramatic act of self-sacrificing dissent, Bushnell became a hero to millions of people in Gaza and the West Bank, and around the world. Spateen\u2019s moving portrait transforms the all-American New Englander into a Palestinian martyr.<\/p>\n}

Working with the iconic yet horrific image livestreamed on twitch<\/em> of the young Bushnell burning himself alive as he shouted \u201cfree Palestine!\u201d, Spateen says that he \u201cchanged fire to poppies,\u201d by transmogrifying the line of flames in Bushnell\u2019s immolation into poppies, which are the traditional Palestinian martyrs\u2019 flowers. In the painting, the artist included his own children picking flowers and placing them on Bushnell\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

\u201cI deliberately situated his body within a Palestinian landscape,\u201d says Spateen in an interview with The Markaz Review. This could be interpreted as possibly the highest form of respect from a painter who intrinsically ties his people to their land, inexorably linking their identities. Palestine, says Spateen, is a kind of \u201cparadise\u201d where the \u201cland sings.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Bushnell\u2019s legs remain outside of the painted frame, \u201cfirmly planted outside the Israeli embassy in DC,\u201d his body is \u201cinside the frame of Palestinian history,\u201d Spateen says.<\/p>\n

The 6 x 17-foot portrait of a Christ-like Bushnell standing tall and saluting in the foreground surrounded by a panorama of green fields and urban scenes in eastern Gaza, looking West towards the Mediterranean Sea, is a striking reminder of his commitment to the cause. Where flames once licked his shoulders, poppies now embrace him, spilling down into the Palestinian soil, connected in a floral chain to the artist\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to show his humanity,\u201d Spateen tells TMR of the piece that marks his first mural painted inside an art museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cAaron was a hero who sacrificed\u00a0 himself for Palestine. He chose the most painful way to die \u2014 by fire. For me it is a way of honoring what he has done for Palestine. He is part of the history of people who supported Palestine. He gave his life for Palestine. It means everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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