Esraa El-Banna
An English literature student, writer, and artist from Gaza. She was displaced from Gaza City on October 13th, 2023, and has now returned to her partially destroyed home. She creates comics as a style of simplicity that conveys powerful stories and truths with minimal tools. Her work aims to bring the voices and realities of her people to the world through art and storytelling. She has written for We Are Not Numbers and is currently interested in scholarship opportunities or art grants outside Gaza.
Esraa is the illustrator of To The World, written by Jehad Abu Dayya.
To The World
In this sixteen-page comic zine, a Palestinian youth is determined to travel the world and share her culture. Rising against her dreams are the realities of genocide in Gaza. Surviving hardships and humiliations, she pens her small message and sends it on a kite to the world. A tale woven to clothe the unseen with dignity and freedom.
“In the midst of the genocide and without any pretense, the charcoal that remains from burning wood to prepare food is the drawing tool that saved me from the whirlpools of drowning while waiting for a ceasefire.” —Esraa El-Banna
Esraa El-Banna and Jehad Abu Dayya were both part of the Yara’at Writing Club in Gaza when the war broke out. Amid genocide and displacement, for months they wrote letters to one another. Fourteen letters are compiled in a zine, along with illustrations by Esraa. The Final Scene is available for purchase as a risograph printed zine, or as a PDF. You can find it here.
In addition to writing and illustrating, Esraa’s art has also been featured on t-shirts.
https://gazagazagaza.base.shop
Want to support Esraa?
Contribute to her fundraiser.
Follow her on Instagram.
Email: albannaisraa@gmail.com
Send proof donation to coastallinespress@gmail.com to receive a digital or print copy of To The World. For print copies, include your full name and address in the email.
Links to other works by Esraa:
https://wearenotnumbers.org/depicting-feelings-that-are-too-heavy-to-be-expressed/
https://wearenotnumbers.org/making-art-to-survive-wartime-limbo/
https://wearenotnumbers.org/even-if/
https://wearenotnumbers.org/what-happens-when-tawjihi-is-interrupted/