Mohammed Al Hawajri was born in 1976 in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza. Between 1999 and 2001, Al Hawarji participated in the Darat Al Funun Summer Academy in Amman, Jordan led by Marwan Qassab Bashi, and in 2008 he received a grant to study at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. His sculpture series, Cactus Borders (2010), which was funded by the Arab Fund for Art and Culture, is comprised of wood and nails – materials that evoke the harsh reality of living under siege. In 2014, the artist placed red carpets in various public spaces – an intervention that sought to criticize the way Gaza becomes a media spectacle during the heightened conflict. Al Hawajri is also known for superimposing scenes of Gaza’s destroyed urban environment onto iconic art historical works, most notably Goya’s The Third of May 1808. By displaying these works as photographs, Al Jawajri explores memory and the nature of images as historical documentation. His diverse artistic engagement with the city led him to establish the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art in Gaza, along with Dena Matar, Mohammed Al Hawajri , Raed Issa, and others.
