Palestinian hip-hop artist Mohammed El-Susi is the new ICORN resident in Stavanger

El-Susi started his artistic career in 2009 when he and his brother founded the band ‘Revolution Makers’, which enjoyed widespread popularity among Gazans until the Hamas authorities prohibited them from performing in 2017.

El-Susi’s music focuses on a variety of issues including corruption, nepotism, poverty, unemployment, and protesting Israeli occupation and Hamas’s governance of Gaza. Through his music and in media appearances, El-Susi has also advocated for artistic freedom in Gaza, criticising the authoritarian and political constraints which have prevented artists from producing and publishing their work. El-Susi’s music and messages have also attracted significant media attention from international outlets such as the BBC, Der Spiegel, Al Jazeera, and Dagbladet.

As a result of the popularity of his music, El-Susi was threatened, arrested, interrogated, and put under surveillance on multiple occasions. Unable to produce and perform in Gaza, he fled to Turkey in 2019. In Istanbul, El-Susi continued his work under difficult financial and living conditions, releasing several songs, and producing music for other artists. Unable to establish a stable life in Turkey due to the treatment of refugees in the country, El-Susi eventually returned to Gaza.

In October 2023, following the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, El-Susi and his family’s property was destroyed, and they were displaced multiple times within occupied Gaza. After six months, they were eventually able to flee to Egypt. In May 2024, he arrived in Norway and took up an ICORN residency in Stavanger City of Refuge where he is the 14th ICORN resident the city has hosted.  

El-Susi said:

‘After the bloody escalation in Gaza, occupied Palestine, something which has persisted for 70 years and is culminating in a genocide, my family and I were compelled to evacuate to Egypt in an attempt to protect our lives.’

In Norway, El-Susi continues to work on his music, using it as a platform to shed light on humanitarian issues in the Middle East and beyond. He plans on collaborating with local and international artists and advocate for positive change in the face of adversity.

You can read Mohammed El-Susi’s ICORN resident profile here and find out more about his work on  YouTube, Behance, and Vimeo.

Stavanger ICORN City of Refuge

Stavanger was the first City of Refuge in Norway, welcoming its first ICORN resident in 1996 and becoming the host of the ICORN Secretariat in 2006 when the organisation was established. The institution which hosts the ICORN residency in Stavanger is Sølvberget Library and Cultural Centre.

As well as Mohammed El-Susi, Stavanger City of Refuge is also currently hosting photographer and photojournalist Hayat Al-Sharif from Yemen. Prior to the two current ICORN residents, Stavanger has hosted 12 other writers, artists, and journalists, including Mohammed Habeeb, Mansur Rajih, and Ali Dorani/Eaten Fish.

Mohammed El-Susi is the first artist to arrive in Stavanger since the city’s decision to welcome a new ICORN resident every year, instead of every two years.

Lotte Løkeland Hovda, the ICORN Coordinator in Stavanger says:

‘Working for freedom of expression has become part of Stavanger’s identity. Politicians in the city acknowledge that being an ICORN City of Refuge does not just provide the artists, writers, and journalists with a safe place, but it also enriches the city with brave and powerful artists which contribute to t the public debate and diversity in the city.’