Nabil Abu Ghanima showed artistic promise at an early age, winning a painting prize in seventh grade. He earned a B.A. in Art Education from Al-Aqsa University in 2008 and taught art for seven years before fully committing to his practice. Now based in Paris through a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Abu Ghanima works across painting, illustration, and animation, developing a personal style influenced by neo-expressionists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Anselm Kiefer. His contemporary self-portraits assert Palestinian identity and heritage, reflecting a lineage that, in his words, “extends deep into our history.”

Instagram: @nabilabughanima

A Palestinian visual artist from the ethnically cleansed village of Yibna, Bayan Abu Nahla grew up in the Yibna refugee camp in Rafah, Gaza. After graduating from UNRWA Vocational College with a diploma in graphic design, she joined Banafsaj—a youth art team of the Tamer Institute for Community Education—where she engaged in discussions, drawing, and creative activities. Her ink and watercolor works—often on paper—serve as a form of diary-keeping, processing fleeting thoughts and emotions during a lifetime of war. In 2023, she held her first solo exhibition in Bethlehem and has exhibited both physical and digital works in Palestine and abroad, including at the Sahab Museum and Palestine Museum US.

Instagram: @bayan_abu_nahla

Mohammed Abu Sitta is a Palestinian artist best known for his oil paintings that explore themes of heritage, resistance, and collective memory. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Alexandria University in 1979 and went on to work as an art teacher in UNRWA refugee camps across Gaza. His artwork often draws from Palestinian folklore, traditional life, and the struggles of displacement, rendered in rich, evocative brushwork. Over the years, Abu Sitta has participated in numerous exhibitions that reflect his commitment to preserving Palestinian cultural identity through art. He continues to live and work in Gaza, where he remains a respected figure in the local art scene.

Mohamed Abusal is a Palestinian artist whose dynamic practice spans installation, video, photography, and painting, often exploring themes of technology, restriction, and daily life in Gaza. He emerged onto the art scene in 2000 with a bold and prolific body of work that continues to evolve. Largely self-taught and shaped by international workshops, Abusal’s art retains an urgent edge while blending the fantastical with the everyday. His work has been exhibited across Palestine and internationally, including solo shows in France, the US, the UK, Australia, and Dubai. A co-founder of the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art, Abusal remains a critical voice in Gaza’s contemporary art landscape.

Instagram: @mabusal

Abdel Rauf Al Ajouri is a Palestinian artist whose expressionist paintings and contemporary sculptures explore inner emotion and the human condition. He began his artistic career in 1993 and earned a B.A. in Fine Arts from Al-Aqsa University in 2008. Al Ajouri has exhibited widely, with his 2003 solo show Silent Dialogue at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah and group exhibitions across Palestine, the Arab world, and Europe. He was a founding member of both the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art and the Eltiqa Artists’ House Gallery in Gaza, where he currently serves as art coordinator. His work reflects deeply personal and collective fears, particularly those of children and adults living under prolonged conflict.

Maha Al-Daya is a Palestinian artist whose work is rooted in the natural and human landscapes of Gaza. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Al Azhar University and pursued her passion for art through courses at the YMCA in Gaza and the Summer Academy at Darat al-Funun in Jordan under the guidance of Marwan Qassab-Bashi. Her vibrant oil paintings depict scenes of fishing boats, village life, and refugee camps, blending realism with imaginative interpretation. Al-Daya has held solo exhibitions and participated in group shows across Palestine, Jordan, France, Germany, and the United States. A member of the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art, she lives and works in Gaza, where nature remains her primary source of inspiration.

Mohammed Al Haj is a young Gazan artist born in Libya to a refugee family originally from the village of Kawkaba. Based in Gaza, he works across multiple styles—ranging from expressive and abstract portraits to pop art and relief sculpture—drawing influence from various artistic schools. He earned his B.A. in Fine Arts from Al-Aqsa University in 2004 and has undergone intensive training in drawing and sculpture. Despite the isolation of Gaza, Al Haj has exhibited his work both locally and internationally, offering a powerful visual response to war, siege, and fragmentation. His artwork reflects Palestinian and Arab identity through bold color, black-and-white graphics, and abstraction, capturing both personal expression and collective struggle.

Instagram: @mohammed.alhaj.000

Mohammed Al Hawajri is a Palestinian artist whose work addresses political and social realities through conceptual art, multimedia, and painting. He studied at the Darat Al Funun Summer Academy in Amman and later received a grant to study at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. His paintings blend expressionism, surrealism, and symbolic realism, often reimagining classical artworks—such as Goya’s The Third of May 1808—to reflect Gaza’s destruction and collective memory. Projects like Cactus Borders and Red Carpet use everyday materials and public space to critique life under siege and the media spectacle of war. A co-founder of the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art, Al Hawajri remains a central figure in Gaza’s cultural resistance.

Instagram: @hawajriart

Ruqayya Al-Lulu earned a BA in Painting from An-Najah National University and an MA from Helwan University in Cairo. An educator and founding contributor to arts programs in Gaza, she has taught in public schools and universities. Her paintings show a clear expressionist influence:marked by bold colors and textured brushwork.She draws from contemporary Palestinian life, portraying everything from still lifes, portraits, and flowers, to scenes of resistance. Al-Lulu has exhibited in Palestine, Egypt, and Jordan, and is a member of both the Eltiqa and Shababek Contemporary Art groups in Gaza.

Tayseer Barakat earned a BA in Fine Arts from Egypt’s Alexandria University in 1983. He later moved to Ramallah, where he continues to live and work as a curator, writer, and artist. As an artist, Barakat often explores themes of flight, movement, and escape as well as exploring key themes of identity, displacement, and resilience. He draws inspiration from Palestinian folklore, ancient civilizations, and daily life under occupation. He uses a color palette that is often limited to monochrome tones to express soberness. His work is held in major collections such as the British Museum, the Umm al-Fahm Art Gallery, and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts.

Instagram: @tayseer.barakat

Maisara Baroud is a Palestinian visual artist and university lecturer at the College of Fine Arts at Al-Aqsa University. He earned a BFA from Al-Najah National University in Nablus and an MFA from the College of Fine Arts in Zamalek, Cairo. Baroud has exhibited widely, participating in group shows across Palestine, the Arab world, Europe, North America, and Asia, and has held six solo exhibitions including Rubble, Salt Boats, and White Phosphorus for the Birth of Elia. His art practice is marked by a stark black-and-white aesthetic and explores themes of war, migration, political imprisonment, and survival, offering a deeply human portrayal of Palestinian suffering. Through expressive technique and emotional intensity, Baroud’s work navigates the tension between grief and hope, violence and freedom.

Instagram: @maisarart

An artist and art teacher based in Gaza, Rana Batrawi earned a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Al-Aqsa University in 2007. Batrawi exhibited her works in three different exhibitions and facilitated sculpture workshops for children at the A.M. Qattan Foundation centre for children in Gaza. She specializes in sculptures and reliefs inspired by Gaza’s cultural and archaeological heritage. Her ash-based paintings are a reflection of the Palestinian condition. Each time Palestinians are subjected to destruction, displacement, and pressure, they rise with renewed hope and vitality. Her work, marked by bold and colorful brushstrokes, has been exhibited in cities across Palestine, as well as in Turkey and the United States.

Instagram: @ranabatrawi

Ayman Essa is a Palestinian artist whose work centers on expressive portraits of elegant women, often bathed in mystical blue tones that evoke beauty, introspection, and feminine power. He earned his BA in Fine Arts from Al-Najah National University in 1999 and his MA from University of Helwan in Egypt in 2011, later completing a residency at the International City of Arts in Paris in 2014. Essa has held numerous solo exhibitions, including Mysticism of Blues in Amman, Body in Ramallah, and Dullness at the A.M. Qattan Foundation. His work has also appeared in major group exhibitions across Palestine, the Arab world, Europe, Japan, and the UK, including the Rome Biennale and Imago Mundi’s Mediterranean Routes. Recently displaced from Gaza due to the ongoing genocide, Essa now resides in Egypt, where he continues to create work that channels resilience through beauty.

Instagram: @ayman_essa74

Fathi Ghaben (1947–2024) was a self-taught Palestinian artist and educator born in the village of Hirbiya in the Gaza Strip. Renowned for his powerful finger-painted works, Ghaben’s art honored Palestinian culture and resistance, often portraying everyday life under occupation. He was the first artist to incorporate the Palestinian flag into his paintings, a bold act that led to his arrest by Israeli occupation forces in 1984 and the confiscation of seven of his works. His art, widely reproduced as posters across Gaza and the West Bank, was viewed by the occupying forces as a form of political incitement. Ghaben passed away on February 25, 2024, after the occupation forces denied him travel for medical treatment.

Fayez Hasany earned a BA in Fine Art from Cairo University. He currently teaches Fine Art in the Education Department at UNRWA and previously taught at the Teachers Institute in Algeria. A founding member of the Plastic Arts Association in Gaza, Hasany has exhibited his work in Algeria, Jordan, and Palestine. Through his art, he visualizes the enduring Palestinian dream to return home. Hasany has created hundreds of paintings centered on Palestinian identity—most produced while living under the constraints of Israel’s illegal military blockade on Gaza.

Moeen Hassouna is a Palestinian visual artist and university professor based in Gaza, known for his powerful mixed media works that explore the depth of human experience. A specialist in fine arts, he held his first solo exhibition, Contrast, at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah in 2002, and has since participated in major exhibitions, including This Is Not an Exhibition at the Palestinian Museum. Hassouna’s work often employs watercolor and oil paint with smooth shadowing and realistic detail, using repetition of the human form and dark tonal palettes to evoke a sense of gravity and urgency. His piece Tunnel (2009) and My Village (2007) are part of major Palestinian art collections, reflecting themes of memory, confinement, and resilience. In addition to his artistic practice, Hassouna is a dedicated educator, nurturing the next generation of Palestinian artists through university teaching and community engagement.

Instagram: @moeen.hassouna

Raed Issa is a contemporary Palestinian visual artist whose work explores themes of vulnerability, loss, and the grief of living under siege. He holds a diploma in Computer Science from Al-Aqsa University and is the founder of the Fine Art Program of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, as well as a founding member of Gaza’s first contemporary art collective, Eltiqa. His work has been exhibited widely in Palestine, Europe, Japan, the Arab world, Australia, and at Documenta fifteen. During both the 2014 and current wars on Gaza, Issa’s home and studio were destroyed; now displaced and living in a tent with his family, he continues to create and teach using materials like tea, hibiscus, and charcoal, transforming loss into acts of resistance and remembrance. Read more about the devastation here.

Instagram: @raed.issa.art

Khaled Jarada is a Palestinian visual artist and children’s book illustrator whose work spans illustration, animation, video art, and performance. Rooted in expressionism, his art centers on figurative forms, the study of the human body, and its psychological states in response to contemporary social and political conditions. He has illustrated numerous children's books—including Cane Talk and School Uniform—and participated in exhibitions and residencies across Palestine and Europe. Jarada has completed residencies at the A.M. Qattan Foundation, the Royal Spanish Academy in Rome, La Filleuse in Reims, and the Festival Ciné-Palestine in Paris. A member of the Agency of Artists in Exile since 2021, he continues to develop a multidisciplinary practice that reflects both intimate interior worlds and collective experiences of displacement.

Instagram: @khaled.jarada

Mohamed Joha is a contemporary Palestinian artist who lives and works between Paris and Marseille. He earned his BA in Art Education from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza in 2003 and later trained at Darat Al-Funun’s Summer Academy in Amman under the renowned Syrian artist Marwan Kassab-Bashi. Joha is known for his distinctive expressionistic collage style, combining painting, drawing, and mixed media with materials like old cloth, paper, and cardboard to create layered, textured compositions. His recent works feature fragmented architectural grids that evoke the destruction and constant rebuilding of Gaza, exploring themes of confinement, resilience, and collective memory. Winner of the 2004 A.M. Qattan Foundation’s Young Artist Award, Joha has since exhibited widely across Europe and the Arab world, gaining recognition for his vivid aesthetic and politically resonant narratives.

Instagram: @mohammedjoha_art

Malak Mattar is a Palestinian artist from the Gaza Strip known for her expressionist portraits, dreamlike figures, and semi-abstract designs. She began painting at thirteen during a 51-day military assault on Gaza, using art as a means of emotional survival. Blocked from travel, she shared her work online, quickly gaining international recognition and exhibiting her paintings in galleries around the world. In 2022, she graduated from Istanbul Aydin University with a degree in international politics and continues to use her art as a form of cultural ambassadorship. A reproduction of her work titled 1948 is currently on view in the A Resilient People gallery at the Museum of the Palestinian People.

Instagram: @malakmattarart

Born in Damascus, Motaz Naim earned a BA from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University in 1997. His paintings, blending abstraction and expressionism, draw from Palestinian memory and nature. Now displaced in Egypt and teaching at Khan Younis College, Naim’s work has shifted dramatically in response to the devastation of war. Many of his landscape paintings have been destroyed, and his experience of genocide has profoundly reshaped his visual language—transforming his paintings from beautiful and colorful, to dark and catastrophic.

Instagram: @motaz.naim.art

A gifted visual artist and muralist from Gaza City, Sami dedicated his life to nurturing creativity in his community. As a longtime volunteer with the Tamer Institute for Community Education, he played a leading role in their art studio—facilitating workshops, supporting youth expression, and using art as a means of resilience and connection. His work, deeply rooted in Palestinian identity, memory, and struggle, often featured bold imagery and poignant symbolism. On October 17, 2023, Sami was killed when an Israeli missile struck Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, where he was sheltering and assisting others.

Shareef Sarhan is a multidisciplinary Palestinian artist, photographer, and designer based in Gaza, whose work spans drawing, installation, digital photography, and video art. He began his formal training in fine arts at the YMCA in Gaza and later earned a diploma in arts from the University of ICS in the United States. Sarhan deepened his artistic practice through intensive workshops, including studies at the September Dara Academy of Jordanian Arts under the mentorship of Syrian-German artist Marwan Kassab Bashi, whose influence introduced him to modern art’s everyday relevance. Sarhan’s work has been widely exhibited in Palestine—in Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem—as well as internationally in Amman, Paris, London, the United States, Italy, the UAE, and Cairo. A founding member of the Windows from Gaza for Contemporary Art collective, Sarhan continues to explore themes of place, memory, and survival through conceptual and public art.

Instagram: @shareef_sarhan

Ismail Shammout was a pioneering modernist painter and art historian whose work became foundational to the visual language of Palestinian identity. After being expelled during the Nakba in 1948, he and his family took refuge in Khan Younis, Gaza, where his experiences of displacement deeply shaped his art. He studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Cairo and later in Rome, blending classical training with a distinct style rooted in Palestinian struggle, heritage, and resistance. Shammout's expressive compositions, often depicting collective memory and national resilience, have influenced generations of artists across the Arab world. A reproduction of his iconic painting Salute to Beit Sahour is currently on view in the Nakba gallery at the Museum of the Palestinian People.

Laila Shawa was a pioneering Palestinian visual artist from Gaza City whose work boldly confronted the political realities of Palestine, with a focus on themes of identity, gender, occupation, and resistance. She studied fine arts in Cairo, Rome, and Salzburg, where she trained under Austrian expressionist Oskar Kokoschka, an influence that shaped her expressive and symbolically charged style. Shawa became internationally recognized for her multimedia works that blended traditional motifs with contemporary techniques, often incorporating photography, silkscreen, and installation. Her art has been exhibited widely across Europe, the Arab world, and the United States, and is part of major collections including the British Museum and the Barjeel Art Foundation. A trailblazer in the Arab art world, Shawa received numerous accolades throughout her life and remained a fierce artistic voice until her passing on October 24, 2022.

Sinwar is a Palestinian painter who fled from Al-Majdal to the southern part of Gaza during the Nakba in 1948. He earned a BA in Fine Arts with a focus on oil painting from Cairo in 1965 and spent over a decade teaching art in Gaza's secondary schools. From 1977 to 2002, he worked in the UAE as Chief Painter at the Teachers Training Center and later at the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Center for Curriculum Development. A key figure in the region’s cultural scene, he helped establish the Emirates’ Fine Arts Society and led the Palestinian Artists’ Union branch in the UAE. Since retiring and returning to Gaza, he has devoted himself fully to his art, with works held in both private and public collections and featured in numerous local and international exhibitions.

An acrylic artist, Zaqout graduated from Gaza Training College in 2003 and Al-Aqsa University in 2007, specializing in graphic design and fine arts. A devoted public school teacher, she participated in numerous exhibitions and held a solo show in 2021 titled My Children in Quarantine. “My paintings are full of Palestinian houses, minarets, domes, and churches,” she once said, “to emphasize the Palestinian identity and Palestinian existence.” In October 2023, Zaqout was killed by Israel alongside her two sons. All of her paintings were destroyed in the same attack.

Hani Zurob is a contemporary Palestinian artist based in Paris since 2006, with a BFA from Al-Najah University in Nablus. His conceptual and narrative-driven practice spans painting, mixed media, and installation, often blending figurative forms with abstraction to explore themes of identity, exile, memory, and displacement. Zurob allows the concept to guide his choice of medium, using materials both literally and metaphorically to convey emotional and political depth. His work is held in major international collections, including the British Museum, Institut du Monde Arabe, and the Barjeel and Dalloul Art Foundations. In 2013, he was named one of ten “international artists to watch” by The Huffington Post, and his work is the subject of the monograph Between Exits by Kamal Boullata.

Instagram: @hanizurob