Artist Tayseer Barakat

Tayseer Barakat:

Artist born in Jabalia camp in Gaza in 1959

His artistic talents emerged in the refugee camp where he lived as a child and a young man, bearing his concerns and that of the Palestinian nation with whatever available art tools. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Alexandria in 1983. After graduating, he returned home and lived in the city of Ramallah. He worked as an art teacher at the Women’s Community College. Also, he has been a member of the Palestinian Artists Association since 1984, an active member of the (Training and Creativity) group, and one of the founders of the Al-Wasiti Center for Arts in Jerusalem.

His career spans more than 30 years. His paintings are intertwined with his reality as a refugee, but despite this reality, his paintings portray hope and dreams for a better future. Moreover, what matters to him the most is storytelling through his paintings, as he tells the viewer his version of the story of the Palestinian people

His artistic style is characterized by not adopting a specific style or one raw material. He is always on a journey of research and discovery of new raw materials from nature. He has used (wood, fire, dyes, iron filings, glass and also used old furniture) in his art work, which made them reach modern standards and easily carry and deliver the idea to the viewer.

As for his installation art works, they are connected to the history and heritage of Palestine.  He researched the past to present it in a contemporary form, as we can see through his artworks displayed in the gallery at the Walled Off hotel.

His paintings carry a Palestinian perspective with their own flavor and human dimensions and a progressive and conscious vision. They represent the Palestinian reality through its titles, contents and topics.

He participated in many solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally, some including:

2021 Exhibition (The Path of the Soul) at Zawaya Gallery in Dubai.

2019 Exhibition (Concerns of Identity) in Beirut.

2010 in Rafia Gallery in Damascus. 2006 in Austria. 2000 at the Arab World Institute in Paris. 1997 Exhibition at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. 1996 Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm.

All his artistic works indicate his excellence in portraying through symbols the data of history, and his artistic and civilized role in which he addresses the minds before the viewer’s visual aspect. Hence, the artist and his works remain a unique Palestinian visual arts’ song in its content and well-known techniques.