With stanzas written by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish drawn on masks or sand sculptures of people wearing masks with messages telling them to stay home, Gazan artists are finding inspiration in the coronavirus pandemic and using their skills to help others stay safe.

“We drew the same masks used by characters of [Netflix’s] 'La Casa de Papel' on masks for young people. We opted for stanzas or quotes by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish for older people,” artist Dorgham Qreiqa, 23, told Al-Monitor, as he drew the image of a spiky coronavirus on a mask in his Shujaiyah home studio in eastern Gaza City.

Qreiqa and his fellow artists, Samah Saad, 30, and Tamer al-Deeb, 22, started drawing on masks and distributing them to the people in marginalized areas after the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the first two cases of COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip on March 22.

“We noticed that the children refused to wear plain white masks, so we made colorful drawings on dozens of medical masks, and we posted pictures online. Everyone loved them. Then we headed to al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, which is the poorest area in the Strip, and distributed the masks after disinfecting them,” he said, adding, “We felt we were able to make a small difference.”