The renowned Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid has opened a powerful photography exhibition featuring images from the besieged Gaza Strip, aiming to "awaken sleeping consciences" about the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The free exhibition, titled "Gaza Through Their Eyes," opened on Tuesday, September 23, and will run until October 19 in the museum's main hall.
The exhibition showcases 27 photographs taken by photojournalists documenting life in Gaza since the siege began in October 2023. "The destruction of Gaza is apocalyptic," the museum states in its presentation, noting that "entire neighborhoods and cities have been razed." The images capture scenes of Gazans receiving water and food distributed through humanitarian aid, as well as children attending makeshift schools among the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Raquel Marti, executive director of UNRWA Spain, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and a partner in the exhibition, described the documentation's scope. "These photos document the bombings and destruction of the Gaza Strip, the forced displacement of the population, the bombing of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and UN schools, but also the famine," she explained. The exhibition includes harrowing images showing approximately 1.4 million people displaced overnight in May 2024, forced to flee with whatever they could carry.
Spain's Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun praised the exhibition during a press conference, emphasizing its human dimension. "These are not distant images, these are human gazes that compel us to recognize the dignity of a people who suffer," he said. The minister's comments underscore the Spanish government's support for bringing international attention to the Gaza crisis through cultural institutions.
Guillermo Solana, the museum's artistic director, expressed hope that the exhibition would "serve as an awakening for sleeping consciences, as a way to open the eyes of those who still refuse to see and look away from what is happening." This statement reflects the museum's commitment to using art and photography as tools for social consciousness and political awareness.
Notably, none of the 27 photographs display the names of their creators. "We did not want to put their names [the photojournalists] to preserve their integrity and prevent them from being assassinated," Marti explained. This anonymity reveals what she considers a "sad reality that characterizes the situation of journalists in Gaza," who risk their lives to bear witness to events there.
The dangerous conditions for journalists in Gaza have become increasingly evident since the conflict began. While Israeli authorities continue to prohibit access to Gaza for international media, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has counted more than 210 journalists killed on site since the start of Israeli military operations, which were launched in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attack orchestrated by the Islamist movement Hamas.
This is not the first time the Thyssen-Bornemisza has brought war into its galleries as a means of raising awareness. In 2022, the museum exhibited about sixty Ukrainian artworks that had been moved from Kiev for safekeeping in the face of the Russian invasion. This precedent demonstrates the institution's ongoing commitment to using its platform to highlight international humanitarian crises and conflicts through visual documentation and artistic expression.
