[1][2] The movement was part of cultural resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine at the time of the First Intifada (1987-1993)..[1] According to their 1989 manifesto, the group sought to begin "an aesthetic quest to elevate artistic vision to a level that affirms the artist’s inner freedom and ability to envision beauty and truth in the midst of their daily struggle for freedom"[3] The four New Vision Movement co-founders, Sliman Mansour, Vera Tamari, Tayseer Barakat and Nabil Anani, were inspired by calls to boycott goods from Israel and the West, and chose to forego buying imported art supplies in favor of using local materials from their surrounding environment.
"[9] The artists instead started exploring local media including wood, clay, chalk, animal glue, straw, mud, leather and natural plant-based dyes such as coffee, olive oil, henna, tea and spices.
[14][13] Nabil Anani used wood wrapped in sheep's leather, produced by a factory in Hebron/Khalil, and then dyed using natural dyes, and ingredients found in the kitchen, as listed above.
[5] Although there were no additions to the founding members - beyond Khalil Rabah joining for a short time from exile in the US - the Palestinian artists' scene benefited from the prompt to experiment with local materials for their artworks, with some using cement, and wood that they hadn't before the intifada.
[17] During the ceremony artist Khaled Hourani spoke about the impact and accomplishments of New Visions, which AMQF describes as having "set the foundations for contemporary practices of Palestinian visual arts".
[19] Sliman Mansour's mural, Ala Janah AlMalak (On the Wings of An Angel / على جناح الملاك) also used clay, with straw, (6x12m) and featured the Old City of Jerusalem as the focal point of the work.
[19] Tayseer Barakat's mural is titled, 'The Eternal Quest on the Mediterranean Shores', (البحث عن الارجوان على شواطئ المتوسط / Albahth 'an alarjouan 'ala shwati' almutawast), (fire and wood, 17x3.9m).
[18] The murals were created with the assistance of volunteers and students from the nearby Birzeit university Faculty of Art, Music and Design, inspired by the spirit of collective resistance commonly espoused during the First Intifada.
[19][20][15][21] The New Visions collective began holding group exhibitions inspired by the potential of a free Palestine, and the role that art could play in civic resistance, in 1989.