Mahmoud Attar, 28, of Palestinian descent, was born and raised in Cairo. He co-founded the Haifa Gallery with his brother, where he displayed carpentry products with Palestinian motifs and sold them in mobile exhibitions nationwide.

Attar moved the project to a new headquarters. The gallery was intended to become a cultural venue with book signings, concerts, exhibitions, and art workshops. 

“We chose to call our project ‘Haifa’ because it is a place that we cannot visit, and this is the case of the majority of Palestinians who were born abroad,” he said.

“Haifa is one of the largest cities in Palestine and we dream of visiting it one day. Surely nothing can be like home, but this project was an attempt to create something small to remind us of a place that we are forbidden to see.”

“We created Haifa here for people of all nationalities to visit — Arabs and non-Arabs — and introduce them to our culture,” Attar concluded.

Captures through the lens of Asmaa Gamal.