A Story You Now Hold: Narratives from Gaza is an interdisciplinary exhibition bringing together the work of contemporary Gazan artists alongside photographs and personal narratives from international healthcare workers who served in Gaza from 2024 to 2026. It asks what dignity remains when homes, bodies, and institutions are devastated, and presents what cannot be occupied or erased: imagination, dignity, creativity, memory, and humanity’s capacity for connection.
Curated by first-time curator Nuha Alshabani as part of the ShowUp Cultural Infrastructure Program developing new curatorial voices, A Story You Now Hold grew from a simple request. During Dr. Alshabani’s 2025 medical mission to the Gaza Strip, Gazan healthcare workers and civilians asked for their stories to be carried beyond Gaza and be shared with the world.
The exhibition explores the relationship between witness and imagination. It examines collective liberation, grief, resistance, and the enduring capacity to create meaning amidst genocide, occupation, and displacement. Documentary photographs and firsthand accounts offer moments of external observation, while paintings, drawings, and other contemporary artworks reveal interior landscapes of memory, grief, hope, identity, and survival. Together, these perspectives illuminate not only what has happened, but what continues to be felt, remembered, and imagined.
Image credit: Abeer Jabril
A Story You Now Hold: Narratives From Gaza
Adel Al-Taweel, Mohamed Harb, Abeer Jabril, Marwan Nassar, Fatema Abu-Owda, and Yara Zohud
Featuring Photographs from International Healthcare Workers
Curated by Nuha Alshabani
February 5 - March 27, 2027
About the Curator
Nuha Alshabani PhD is a psychologist, educator, and independent curator based in the United States. Her academic research focuses on advancing health equity in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment for marginalized communities, with particular attention to the psychological impacts of war, displacement, and structural violence. In 2025, she participated in a medical mission at Al- Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, an experience that continues to shape both her scholarship and curatorial practice.
Dr. Alshabani develops interdisciplinary projects that bridge psychology, healthcare, and the arts to explore trauma, healing, and collective liberation through research, education, and community engagement.
A Story You Now Hold: Narratives from Gaza marks her debut curatorial exhibition. Through her work as both a curator and professionally, Dr. Alshabani seeks to foster dialogue across disciplines, demonstrating how art and healthcare together can deepen understanding, preserve memory, and strengthen collective commitments to justice and liberation.