This time around, Palestinian-American Jason Al Ghussein isn’t waiting to display his latest mural for BLINK. He’s going straight to the public Oct. 21 with the unveiling of his “Focus on Love” tribute to the resiliency of Gazans.
As a seasoned artist and designer, Al Ghussein, 37, doesn’t take it personally that BLINK has twice rejected his murals for a biennial event designed, in the words of its sponsors, “to illuminate a path toward inclusion and possibility, leveraging the great equalizer: art.”
What he regrets is that his peaceful representations of the plight of the Palestinian people and his own family weren’t given the festival organizers’ official recognition and funding for 2022 and again in 2024.
“It’s fine to submit artwork into an exhibition and it’s fine to be rejected,” Al Ghussein said. But, “what was happening in Gaza (in 2024 and 2025) was a full-blown genocide. I think we can all agree that genocide is bad, and I think we can all agree that standing up against genocide is good.”
With the help of friends, $23,000 in GoFundMe donations and his own back-breaking work that included hauling hundreds of 50-pound buckets of paint from store to site, Al Ghussein managed to paint, illuminate and animate both murals as unofficial “sideshows” during BLINK 2024 last fall.
“Welcome to Jaffa,” an homage to the orange groves his ancestors lost during the Israeli takeover of Palestine in 1948, has adorned an abandoned building at 71 E. Clifton Ave. in Over-the-Rhine since the fall of 2020. His second mural, “Focus on Love” at 1622 Main St. across from Rothenberg Academy, was inspired by a viral photo of a young Palestinian woman in heart-shaped glasses looking strong and stylish amid the rubble of Gaza.
Because of delays in getting permission from the building’s owners, Al Ghussein had less than a week to paint the four-story “Focus on Love” in time for BLINK 2024. “I wasn’t going for perfection as an artist but for a presence for Palestine,” he said.
This Tuesday, Oct. 21, Al Ghussein will unveil the fully realized artistic vision he had hoped for but couldn’t complete in time for BLINK 2024. The ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Rothenburg Academy parking lot with Palestinian music and dancing until 7 p.m. Attendees are invited to cross the street to the Somerset Bar for a multi-benefit fundraiser before a return to the parking lot to view the illumination and animation of the mural starting at 9 p.m.
Al Ghussein, an Over-the-Rhine resident of Palestinian ancestry, has lost at least 35 relatives in Gaza since the two-year-long conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023. A Hamas-led assault on Israel that day killed 1,200 people and captured 251 hostages. Israel has retaliated with what the United Nations and numerous scholars and human rights group have called a genocide — a bombardment and invasion that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, brought severe restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid that has led to malnutrition and starvation, and led to the destruction of 80 percent of Gaza’s homes and buildings, including its hospitals, schools and cultural centers, according to recent satellite images.
Al Ghussein has lost his family’s ancestral home as well. The late Ottoman-era mansion east of Gaza City was built between 1890 and 1917 and later became the home of the British consul before falling into disrepair. With the help of Germany’s Goethe Institute, the home was restored in 2020 as a Palestinian cultural center for hosting film screenings, poetry evenings, music performances, workshops and exhibits. Al Ghussein had hoped to exhibit his work there someday, but an Israeli airstrike destroyed the building on June 27, 2025.For more information about Al Ghussein and his work, visit his Instagram page or professional website.