Tayseer Barakat is one of Palestine’s preeminent artists whose practice over the past years has drawn inspiration from the ancient past, oral traditions and cultural narratives that are intimately tied to life in Palestine. Working primarily in paint, inks and dyes, his colour palette is often limited to monochrome tones which imbue his works with a sober tone. In Barakat’s words the dark colours he uses‘ reflects the hardships of our time and our present life. I think the pressure on us makes us use dark colours’. Born in 1959 in Jabalia Camp in Gaza, Barakat continues to be heavily influence by the environment where he grew up. This is reflected in both his subject matter and the variety of media he works in including wood, metal and glass. Barakat graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts in Alexandria, Egypt and soon after moved to Ramallah where he has since been based, teaching and producing art. He has held ten solo exhibitions and participated in numerous international exhibitions including the Sao Paolo International Biennial (1997), the Sharjah Biennial(2003) and across Europe
