Abed Abdi is a Palestinian sculptor and muralist. He was born in 1942 in Haifa where he still lives. He belongs to the generation of post-1948 pioneering visual artists.

His father Abed el Rahman el Haj, was mayor of the city of Haifa in the years 1920-1927. In April 1948, the family´s artist were uprooted from their home, his father remained in Haifa. They went to live in different refugee camps until they were allowed to go back to Palestine as part of the family reunification program.

He start his love for art during high school where he learned painting and sculpting. In 1962 he was accepted for membership in the Haifa branch of the Israeli Association of Painters and Sculptors becoming the first Palestinian member.

He studied Fine Arts in Germany where he specialized in murals and environmental sculpture.

In 1970 after he received his diploma, he was selected along a group of other graduating students at the academy, to participate in the erection of a huge mural at the Cultural Palace built in 1968 in Dresden. The mural still remains a cultural landmark of this part of unified Germany.

In 1972 Abdi returned from Germany and started working as an illustrator, graphic designer, sculptor, curator and teacher of fine art in colleges and community centers.

After studying in Dresden, Abdi became the first Palestinian to build monumental art on native soil. His allegorical monuments in Galilee, honouring human fortitude and resistance, include a narrative mural. He built a bronze monument dedicated to six Palestinians who were shot on Land Day (1).

In the years 1972 to 1982 he was the graphic designer and graphic editor of the newspaper Al Ittihad and of the literary journal Al Jadid published in Haifa. During this period working there, he created caricatures and illustratios.

In the 1990s he started to change things in his art and he began turning to mixed media and color painting, using materials like glass, copper, wood and aluminium.

The city of Haifa awarded Abed Abdi the “Herman Struck Best Artist of the Year” in 1973 and that year he obtained the Young Artist´s award at the Berlin International Youth Festival.

Abed Abdi has exhibited in Qatar, Israel, Belgium and Bulgaria. He has participated in over 45 group exhibitions, among them the joint Palestinian-Israeli exhibition “It’s possible” which toured the US and Germany between 1988 and 1990.

In 1995 he participated in the second exhibition for Palestinians and Israelis in Germany. His work appeared in the “Solidarity with the Palestinian People” exhibit in Tokyo, Berlin, Brussels, Belgrade and Athens.

He also organized and participated in exhibitions around Palestine in the period between 1980 and 1987 defending the freedom of expression and creativity.

In 1999 for the second time he received the Hermann Struck Best Artist of the Year Prize.

During the years 2001, 2002 he received a number of awards from local Rotary clubs in Haifa and Nazareth.

In 2008 he became the first Palestinian artist living in the illegal state of Israel to win the Israeli Minister of Science, Culture and Sport Award for art and graphic art. In the same year he received a honorary mention from Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue Between Cultures.

In 2010 he received the title of notable citizen of Haifa.

Part of an interview with Abed Abdi, Palestinian painter from Haifa, Feb 2014

Reference

(1) On 30 March 1976, thousands of people belonging to the Palestinian minority in Israel gathered to protest Israeli government plans to expropriate 60,000 dunams of Arab-owned land in the Galilee. In the resulting confrontations with Israeli police, six Palestinians were killed, hundreds wounded, and hundreds jailed. In the intervening years, those events have become consecrated in the Palestinian memory as Land Day.

Abed Abdi ´s work

Memorial at Shafar’

                                                     Memorial for the six martyrs of the Day of the Land (1978)

…in Wadi Nisnas for the Feast of the Feasts, in 1998

Majnoune

Sources:

–Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation

-Institute for Middle East Understand (http://imeu.org/article/who-are-some-well-known-palestinian-painters-or-other-visual-artists)

-ElectronicIntifada.com

-Jadadiyya.com

-Abedabdi.com

Further Reading:

–Part of an interview with Abed Abdi, Palestinian painter from …

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzmQNokv-Yo )

– What is it that Palestinians commemorate on Land Day?(http://electronicintifada.net/content/what-it-palestinians-commemorate-land-day/5039 )

– Abed Abdi and the Liberation Art of Palestine

(http://abedabdi.com/index.php/en/reviews/203-abed-abdi-and-the-liberation-art-of-palestine )

Abdul Hay Mosallam born in Dawaymeh, Hebron, Palestine in 1933, and currently lives and works in Amman, Jordan. He is a self-taugh artist who has meticulously worked on achiving the recent histories of the Palestinian people. He didn´t go for training or any institution to learn art. He uses very simple tools and materials to creat painted reliefs. A mixture of glue and sawdust makes up the reliefs.

The artist recreates scenes from daily life in his lost Palestinian home since his expulsión from his hometown in 1948. He is a very active person who keeps working and producing. He produced extensive documentation of the recent Palestinian struggle and liberation movements of a form of painted reliefs. His work shows the real history of the Palestinian people. He recalls from his days in the villages scenes of traditions and celebrations, but also from the years while he was in exile.

He worked at the maintenance department of the Jordanian Air Force before he joined the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1960 he was sent with his family to Lybya and there he learnt his technique and turn to art.

His work talks about the Diaspora , the struggle of many Palestinians and his artistic militance.

He participated in more than 35 Arab and international exhibitions and in 33 Japanese artists exhibition in Tokyo on the Sabra – Shatilla massacre that took place in Lebanon in 1982.

His work is very well know in Arab countries but also in Europe where he has held solo exhibitions.

Abdul Hay Mossalam´s work has been recognized by important critics and journalists who wrote about his work in differenr magazines.

In addition to his ongoing work, Abdul-Hay dreams of establishing a museum – not only for his own works and not only to collect works from the past, but as a place where one could house the present aspirations of his people.

 Abdul Hay Mosallam’s Workshop – Jabal Qusur   

 Abdul Hay Mosallam´s work

Sources:

-Zara Gallery (http://www.zaragallery.org/content/ArtistDetails.aspx?a_id=94 )

-Facebook / Abdul Hay Mossalam

Further Reading:

– Sharjah Art Foundation brings together three distinctive new exhibitions

(http://www.thenational.ae/arts-lifestyle/art/sharjah-art-foundation-brings-together-three-distinctive-new-exhibitions )

Nasr Abdel Aziz Eleyan born in the Palestinian village of Az-Zakariyya north of Hebron in 1941. He is a television designer/ producer.

He grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein as. Sultan near Jericho where he began painting. He studied fine arts in Rusia, Iraq, Egypt and Great Bretain.

He lives in Jordan where he teaches fine arts at the University of Jordan. Nasr worked as an interior designer for drama production and headed Dubai TV´s design department for at least 20 years. He worked as well in Jordan Television. He produced an in informative television series entitled Costumes Through the Ages. That took a substantial amount of research and a little over than a hundred water color paintings used as illustrations.

In addition to that, Nasr Abel Aziz Eleyan is a figurative painter whose individual style is concerned with cultural traditions. His paintings depict the rural life of the peasant, and the traditional Palestinian way of life. He simplifies his subjects with simple geometrical lines, creating both harmony and balance. He did some water colors especially as supportive illustrations to one of his television productions.

Nasr Abdel Aziz Eleyan´s Work

Sources:

– http://fananeen.com/

– http://www.ziggy-graphics.com/clients/nasr/

Hanna Jubran is a Palestinian sculptor born in Jish (District of Safad). He received his M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is currently a Sculpture Professor and Sculpture Area Coordinator at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Hanna’s work addresses the concepts of time, movement, balance and space. Each of his sculpture occupies and creates its own reality influenced by its immediate surroundings. The work does not rely on one media to evoke the intended response, but takes advantage of compatible materials such as, wood, granite, steel, iron and bronze.

Internationally acclaimed Jubran has conducted symposiums in many parts of the world.  His work has been exhibited in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin and South America.  His awards are very significant.

International art shows, competitions and symposiums:

The International Sculpture Symposium in Granby, Canada, The Ecatepec, Mexico International Monumental Sculpture Symposium, The Toyamura International Sculpture Biennial at Toyamura Village, Japan, The International Sculpture Symposium and Conference at Europos Parkas in Vilnius, Lithuania, The Second International Invitational Iron Sculpture Exhibition and Iron Pour at Tallinn University in Tallinn, Estonia and The International Woodcarving Symposium in Kemivarji, Finland. A recent commission Hanna just completed can be found on the grounds of Fayetteville University, Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is a nine-segmented concrete sculpture and reaches 11’ in height. Hanna is consistent, in his pursuit of creating enjoyable sculptures for private and corporate collections.

Research Awards

• 2003- University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Distinguished Alumnus Award, Milwaukee, WI
• 2002–Artist Fellowship Award at The Southeastern College Art Conference, Mobile, AL
• 2002–The ECU Five-Year Achievement Award, Greenville, NC
• 2001- VCAA Teacher Scholar Award, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
• 2001-Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award at The Southeastern College Art Conference, Columbia, SC
• 2000- The Board of Governors Teaching Award
• 2000-01- East Caroline University Alumni Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award Finalist, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

 Sculpture Trail Artist Hanna Jubran

Nature, Metaphor & Meaning

Harmony

Crystalization of Elements

Sources:

– Hanna Jubran – Sculpture

– www.glenneureart.com

Further readings:

– Hanna Jubran’s Sculpture Exhibition Opens At Barton

http://www.barton.edu/2008/09/hanna-jubrans-sculpture-exhibition-opens-at-barton/

–Sculptor Hanna Jubran Visits Barton On Oct. 7

http://www.barton.edu/2008/09/sculptor-hanna-jubran-visits-barton-on-oct-7/

Hani Zurob is a Palestinian artist in exile, unable to return to his homeland. He was born in 1976 in Rafah Refugee Camp in Gaza.In 1999 he graduated as a B.A. of Fine Arts at the University Al-Najah (Nablus). He settled then in Ramallah until 2006, where he received a grant that allowed him to reside in Paris at the Cité Internationale des Arts. Hani was unable to return to his homeland. Today he lives in France, creating works that explore state of exile, waiting, movement and displacement – his work presents Palestine through a personal perspective and conceptual context that transcends borders and geography – concepts that remain close to the Painter’s heart.

Hani Zurob has participated in numerous international solo exhibitions, such as in Paris, Atlanta, Marrakech, Doha and Rabat, as well as in group exhibitions and artistic events in Europe and world wide, to name a few: Guest Artist in Dak’Art 2014 (Dakar Biennale), Musée Théodore Monod de l’IFAN, Senegal. Le Corps découvert, Contemporary Arab art at the Arab World Institute in Paris 2012. Palestine: La création dans tous ses états which was held at the Arab World Institute in Paris 2009, and then at The National Museum of Bahrain 2009. Gaza 61 + Seoul 59 at the Young Gallery in Seoul 2009. Paris – Damas: regards croisés, which was organized by Europia Productions, at the Arab World Institue 2008 and then at the National Museum of Damascus 2009. Made in Palestine at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Huston, Texas 2003. The 11th Cairo Biennale 2008. Still Life Symposium at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, United Kingdom 2008.

A recently released book titled “Between Exits: Paintings by Hani Zurob” traces the path of the artist’s career, covering his creative period in Palestine through to his development as an exiled artist in Europe. Organized chronologically, the volume offers a glimpse into the work of a contemporary Palestinian artist whose understanding of identity and collective belonging has changed throughout his cross-continental journey.

Hani Zurob´s Work

Sources:

– http://www.berlonigallery.com

– www.hanizurob.com

Further readings:

– Hani Zurob: an abstract painter rooted in Palestine’s reality

http://electronicintifada.net/content/hani-zurob-abstract-painter-rooted-palestines-reality/12546

— Hani Zurob

http://archive.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2880&ed=173

–Between Exits: Paintings by Hani Zurob

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/12486/between-exits_paintings-by-hani-zurob

Ibrahim Ghannam (1930-1984), was born in Yajur near Haifa. In 1948 his family fled Yajur and settled in Tel-Zaatar refugee camp in Beirut. He started to paint since he was 17 years old until his death. He is considered one of the founders of the Palestinian plastic art movement. His work focused on the daily life of the Palestinian people and Palestine before the Nakba. He painted vivid scenes of rural Palestine with bright colours using as composition festive panoramic views of harvest and olive-picking scenes, wedding and circumcision ceremonies.

His paintings showed Palestine as an idealized Paradise lost. He became with the years an emblem of resistance. The three main themes he presented in his artwork were: the road to exile, the armed struggle and the nostalgic images of the lost homeland.

He was a founding member of the General Union of Palestinian artists foundation, and the General Federation of Arab Artists foundation.

During the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the Israeli army seized some of his paintings from one of the exhibits of Beirut. Other paintings of his were also lost in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion.

He is the subject of Adnan Mdanat’s 1977 documentary film Palestinian Visions.

 Ibrahim Ghannam

Ibrahim Ghannam´s Work

Source:

– From the book Palestinian Art by Gannit Ankori

– http://www.palestineposterproject.org

Further readings:

– Review: Gannit Ankori’s “Palestinian Art”

http://electronicintifada.net/content/review-gannit-ankoris-palestinian-art/3556

Ismail Shammout (1930-2006) a famous Palestinian artist born in Lydda. In 1948 he and his family were forced to leave their home and live in a refugee camp in Khan-Younes, Gaza Strip. In 1950 he enrolled in the College of Fine Arts in Cairo. In 1953, he set up his first exhibition in Gaza and in 1954 his major exhibition was opened in Cairo and was sponsored and inaugurated by Egyptian President Jamal Abdul-Nasser. In the same year he moved to Italy and joined the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.

In 1959 he married Tamam Al Akhal, his artist colleague. Their work has been exhibited in many countries around the world.

Shammout became a part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the Director of Arts and National Culture in 1965. He also held the position of Secretary General of the Union of Palestinian Artists. He became Secretary General of the Union of Arab artists in 1969. In 1992 he and his wife, al Akhal, moved to Germany due to the Gulf War. After Germany, they settled in Jordan.

He was among thousands of Palestinians that witnesse the tragedy of being forces out of their homes and towns by Jewish soldiers in order to créate the ilegal state o Israel. This experience was reflected in many of his paintings and it influenced his entire career. He kept his dreams to return one day to his beloved Palestine.

In his artwork he express his fears, hopes, dreams, and emotions.His style was unique and he empoyed symbols of Palestinian traditions and culture visible in his compositions where female figures dressed in traditional Palestinian embroidered dresses.

His work has served not only to document the experiences of Palestinians before and after al Nakba, but also to support a sense of cultural and national pride among a people facing daily persecution and socioeconomic hardship in both occupied Palestine and in neighboring Arab countries. Throughout his artistic career, Shammout never wavered from his dedication to the Palestinian struggle.

Ismail Shammout has the following publications:

• The Young Artist, Beirut (1957), Arabic.
• Palestine, Illustrated Political History, Beirut (1972), various languages.
• Palestinian National Art, Beirut (1978), various languages.
• Palestine in Perspective, Beirut (1978), Arabic & English.
• Art in Palestine, Kuwait (1989), Arabic & English.

Ismail shammout 

Ismail shammout´s Work

Sources:

– http://ismail-shammout.com/

– http://www.jadaliyya.com

Further readings:

– In remembrance: Ismail Shammout, 1931-2006

http://electronicintifada.net/content/remembrance-ismail-shammout-1931-2006/6067

–Honour Ismail Shammout 1930-2006:Beloved Artist of Palestinian self-determination

http://www.imemc.org/article/20297

Tamam Al Akhal was born in Jaffa in 1935. In 1948 she was forced to leave her birthplace and take refugee in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 1953 she enrolled at the Fine Arts College in Cairo. She is one of the first Palestinian women to be formally trained in the arts. In 1954 she took part in the exhibition of her colleague Ismail Shammout who she married in 1959.

She has exhibited widely with her husband in Cairo and various countries. Al-Akhal’s work deals mainly with the plight of the Palestinians, especially with themes concerning the Nakba. In visual form, her work uses a method similar to that used by the Mexican muralists, where scenes and symbols are combined to creative a narrative. Al-Akhal uses mainly oil paints, and her most famous works are those picturing the house she had to abandon In Jaffa in 1948. She is a member of the General Union of Palestinian Artists and of the General Union of Arab Artists.

 When art speaks – tribute to Tamam Al Akhal

Sources:

– tamamalakhal.com

-http://sakakini.org

Further readings:

– Jordanian exhibition honours pioneering women artists

http://al-shorfa.com/en_GB/articles/meii/features/entertainment/2010/03/25/feature-03

Samia Taktak Zaru is a contemporary multi-media artist, designer, painter and sculptor renowned throughout the Arab world. She was born in Nablus in 1938. She studied Fine Arts at the American University of Beirut. Afterwards the artist moved to Washington where she did her post-graduate studies in the Corcoran School of Art and the American University 1961.

Samia studied under sculptor Basbous and attended Art Education Specialist UNESCO/ UNRWA Seminars in Beirut, Lebanon.

Samia became the first woman to experiment in mixed media creations as a welder/sculptor, whether scrap metals, stone, wood, yarn or paint; she would always see beyond the simple image and transform it into a masterpiece of creativity that would leave the viewer with a sobering thought.

She likes to search for identity by trying materials that relate to human beings and life such as: wood, dyes, ropes and the remnants of Palestinian embroidery, as an expression of the beauty of her culture and land.

What distinguishes this artist is that she blends the abstract art with handy crafts. In her art work we can see that she uses various art materials like: acrylic, oil and water color, and wooden blocks. She molds her metallic sculptures and embroiders her own embroidery, which she uses in her art.

The artist uses bold colors and strong lines to communicate the tension in her work. She also integrates Palestinian embroidery and printed fabrics into her paintings, to help bring out a celebratory tone.

Among her most prominent pieces are the metal sculpture of the Haya Center (1964) and the AlHusain Gardens Seven sculptures (2000). She has participated in International and Arab Exhibitions, winning medals and awards in Iraq, Egypt and Kuwait. She has held one-woman shows in Europe, Asia, USA and the Arab world and has participated in many group exhibitions. Presently she works in an open studio-workshop and displays her work in Amman, Jordan.

Zaru’s works are included in the collection of the Jordan Royal Court, The Jordan National Gallery, The Museum of Women in the Arts DC, the President Reagan and President Carter Library Museums, the Vatican Museum, the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art, the Rockefeller Art Collection and The Russian Modern Art Museum in Moscow as well as in private collections in Jordan.

Zaru is a founding member of the Jordan National Gallery and the Artists Association and a pioneer of Installation Art in the Arab World since 1986. She had the first installation in 1988 in Amman on an area of 1000 square meters. She also works on the revival and development of traditional design in the Arab and Islamic World in her capacity as a consultant and speaker at seminars on Art and identity in design development in arts and crafts (Ircica).

A lecturer and an expert on art curricula tailored to Arab culture in schools and universities, Zaru is one of seven International experts with UNESCO to set the policy for the enhancement of arts in education.

She yearns for a future where art is the international language that will make long lasting bridges of understanding and tolerance amongst nations and hopes Arab art will spread around the world.

Samia Zaru´s art work

Source:

www.zaragallery.org

http://artweekamman.me/speakers/

Further reading:

– Samia Zaru

http://www.mei.edu/content/samia-zaru

Mohammad Nasrallah is a painter who was born in 1963 in the Wihdat Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. He developed an interest in painting since his early childhood, affected by his surroundings. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Amman, Jordan.

Since the very beginning, he started to search for a different expression and after all these years it became evident in his art work. The most significant aspect that marks his artistic experience is the objective and visual diversity which are uniquely conveyed at every exhibition he holds. In his exhibitions we can see the way he engages in dialogue and interlocution with poetry, presenting an artistic accomplishment that simply adds to his experience and enriches it.

He is a member of the Jordanian Plastic Artists’ Association. Throughout his career Nasrallah has held 6 solo exhibitions since 1989 in Amman. Between 1988 and 2001 he participated in over 60 group shows in Jordan and the region including Egypt, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates. This is in addition to other exhibitions abroad including Austria, Bangladesh, England, France and Japan.

As an artist Nasrallah is involved in other activities. He has designed a number of posters for Amnesty International and other posters for the Intifada. Many of his paintings have been acquired by individuals and institutions in Jordan and abroad.

He lives and works in Amman.

Video

Mohammad Nasrallah Own Unique Style

Sources:

http://www.ihdeeny.com/

http://www.occupiedspace.org.uk