After a summer in which the dreams of dozens of the best and the brightest young people in Palestine seemed to be shattered by the Irish authorities, it was fitting that three survivors of the Gaza genocide managed to shame the Irish Government thanks to the brilliance of their artwork this past weekend.

At the end of the academic year, Masters students who have completed the MA in Creative Practice at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) in Galway are invited to take part in a joint exhibition which showcases the power of their work and some of the projects they have worked on over the past year.

At a time when up to 40 of the most gifted young people in Gaza are facing acute disappointment, after being turned down visas by the Irish Department of Justice, it seemed fitting and even poignant that three scholarship students from Gaza stole the show.

Their 2026–27 counterparts were notified that their visas had been denied in recent weeks even though they had obtained fully funded scholarships to study in Ireland.

The ‘From One Breadth to the Next’ exhibition showcases the works of all of the Masters students who completed their studies at the School of Creative Industries this year, but it was impossible not to be moved in particular by the work of the three artists from Gaza who were evacuated to Ireland during the genocide.

The exhibition, which opened on Friday night, features multimedia work by journalist and film-maker Abdelrahman Ismail, poet and designer Fatena Abu Mostafa, and visual artist Mohammed Al Madhoun, all of whom won scholarships to study at the ATU and had to be evacuated from Gaza this time last year.

Abdelrahman’s powerful 13-minute film, Borders in Sand, looks at how Gaza children use their imaginations to continue playing games amid the wreckage of Israel’s onslaught in his home city of Deir Al Balah. As the children invent a game on sand, with the tents of dispossessed families in the background, it is impossible not to be moved by the shadows which the on-going siege and conflict cast over their young lives. He filmed the entire documentary on his mobile phone and edited it in Galway.

Abdelrahman films the children at play with the mastery of a veteran film-maker, allowing the terrible backdrop of what has been happening to their people emerge through the innocent conversations of youngsters who are determined to have fun, even in the context of ethnic cleansing, regular aerial bombardments, and an innate understanding of the terrible injustice experienced by the people of Palestine.

His visual pieces are equally stunning. He juxtaposes images he........

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