Yasmeen Kanaan, unflinchingly!
- Elsa Vincent
- Dec 10, 2025
- 2 min read
Yasmeen Kanaan is a Palestinian artist currently working in Montreal. Her meticulous oil paintings unflinchingly depict themes of resistance, endurance, and humanity in a collection that provokes deep contemplation and inspires hope for a better future.
Kanaan’s piece titled Passing Down will immediately capture your attention. It depicts a Palestinian family, a father and mother holding their young child as they stare out at the viewer. The piece is a contemplation on the transmission of identity through generations, displaying the resilience of culture and community. From the keffiyeh draped over the father to the watermelon held in his hands, it is clear that identity is passed down in ways that transcend the mortal body.
Perhaps the most humorous piece in Kanaan’s collection is Humanizing Liberty, a portrait of Lady Liberty herself slumped on a park bench, cigarette in hand. Kanaan’s nuanced brushstrokes carve deep worry lines into Lady Liberty’s forehead, the bags under her eyes dark from lack of sleep. Although comical in subject, what the piece invites us to contemplate is deeply serious. What happens when liberty is a lie? The mantle of freedom hangs heavy, especially when full of broken promises.
Kanaan’s two still life pieces on display at Emergence are both lovely to look at and poignant displays of resilience. Food is resistance. Food gives life, a simple necessity that is not so simple for those living under violent occupation. Food is also a tool in the production of culture, both symbolically, like the watermelon that displays the colors of Palestinian nationality, and tangibly, like your grandmother teaching you how to make flatbread in her decades-old kitchen.
Yasmeen Kanaan’s works represent the most critical issues of our time. Come see her collection at Galerie d’Art Emergence - exhibition “Introspection”, on view until December 24th.
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