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Gazan girl turns walls into canvas for giant paintings

Teenager Ansam Raed Saleh al-Wadiya has filled the walls of her house in the Shajaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, which was badly destroyed in the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza, with paintings that reflect the Palestinian struggle.
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On a hilltop in the Shajaiya neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City, which was extensively damaged by the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in July-August 2014, lives Ansam Raed Saleh al-Wadiya. The teenager has turned the walls of her house into murals in an expression of her emotions and imagination, attracting visitors despite the piles of stone and rubble they must pass in the streets to get there.

The eyes of Ansam, 16, show hope and strength, and her paintings carry the viewer to a world of peace and calm. She has worked on the murals for many long nights, and spent much time creating the drawings that she included in her painting booklet and on the walls of Dalal al-Mughrabi High School. The walls of her house are covered in about 20 paintings each, which include architectural shapes, nature scenes and cartoon characters.

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