Untitled by Tayseer Barakat

Untitled by Tayseer Barakat: The project launched by Zawyeh Gallery, ‘Posters for Gaza’ aims to shed light on the ethnic cleansing and horrific massacres inflicted on the Gaza Strip demanding cease fire and the recognition of Palestinian rights to live freely on their land with dignity.

Representing a long tradition in Palestinian history, political posters were produced extensively in the seventies and the eighties by the Palestinian Liberation Organization with the contribution of Palestinian, Arab, and international artists. Posters played a crucial role then in supporting the justice of the Palestinian cause and promoting it globally, guided by freedom, dignity, resilience, and the ongoing aspiration for independence, sought by Palestinians.

Tayseer Barakat was born in Gaza in 1959 and completed his art education in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1983. Since then, he moved to Ramallah where he has been based – both teaching and creating art. Barakat has worked with a variety of media and has experimented widely – with wood, metal, and glass – and has become one of Palestine’s notable artists working today. Painting remains his first preference and he continues to work at a prolific rate, drawing from the artistic heritage of the region and its ancient influences.

Barakat is one of Palestine’s preeminent artists whose practice has drawn inspiration from the ancient past and from the oral traditions and cultural narratives that are intimately tied to life in Palestine. Working primarily in paint, inks, and dyes, he uses a color palette that is often limited to monochrome tones, which imbues his works with a certain soberness.