April 25, Laika's work for Palestinian partisans and women

«One morning I woke up and found the invader…». These are the words that accompany the new work of the star artist Laika appeared in Rome, in the San Lorenzo neighborhood a few hours before the celebrations of April 25th. It is called “Liberation” and depicts two women walking hand in hand, they are a partisan and a Palestinian woman holding a red poppy between her fingers, symbol of the Resistance of yesterday and today.

«In Italy, there were 35 thousand female partisan fighters, and 70 thousand were part of the Women's Defense Groups», explained the artist. «4653 of them were arrested and tortured, over 2750 were deported to Germany, 2812 were shot or hanged and 1070 fell in combat. In Gaza, they are approx 10 thousand women killed during the invasion of the Israeli army.” It is to all of them that Laika has chosen to dedicate his latest work which, not by chance, he created in the San Lorenzo district, one of the symbolic neighborhoods of partisan resistance in Rome. Here in 1922 the fascist march on Rome was stopped, here the population paid a very high price on 19 July 1943 when many buildings in the neighborhood were destroyed by an Anglo-American bombing with the aim of attacking the freight yard which is still active today.

The new work by street artist Laika entitled Liberation, which appeared in Rome in the San Lorenzo district

«I dedicate this day to all of them (25 April, ed): to the women who liberated Italy from Nazi-fascism, to the Palestinian women who resist, suffer and die and who dream of the birth of a Palestinian state in which to live freely and with dignity. Besides, as ours said President Mattarella“Those who have suffered the vile attempt to wipe their own people from the earth know that another people cannot be denied the right to a state.” Cease fire now!

The new work by street artist Laika entitled Liberation, which appeared in Rome in the San Lorenzo district

A slice of watermelon stands out at the edge of the dress worn by the Palestinian woman. The fruit which since 7 October has become one of the symbols of Palestinian resistance even though it had already existed for several years as a reference, not directly explicit, to the Palestinian Territories. In fact, the watermelon grows in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank and its colors are the same as the Palestinian flag: red, green, white and black. The same as red poppies.

The new work by street artist Laika entitled Liberation, which appeared in Rome in the San Lorenzo district