Palestinian artist Juliana Seraphim (1934–2005) was a pioneering figure of the Middle Eastern art scene. Known for her sensually rich, dreamlike and sometimes erotic imagery, her surrealist-inflected paintings and drawings incorporate themes of homeland, female liberation, memory, spirituality and identity. As a teenager in 1949, the Arab-Israeli war forced Seraphim and her family to flee Palestine to Lebanon where she developed her practice in exile. Unlike many of her contemporaries who addressed the Palestinian struggle, she developed a deeply personal, surrealist-inflected style that allowed her to express the depths of her subconscious. ‘The images in my paintings come from deep within me: they are surreal and unexplainable,’ she once said. Characterised by organic lines and translucent colours, this cryptic painting depicts a giant all-seeing eye above a fantastical cityscape. Its pupil illuminates a female figure wearing insect wings and a diaphanous dress, while other winged figures glide through the city’s magical architecture.