Profiling figures, faces and animals, Mohammed al-Hawajri puts his message across in his signature style yet again.
Whether it is the same girl in four different portraits with the change being only a tinge of difference in her facial colour or the portraiture of Maryam carrying a different message stamped on her plain expression, al-Hawajri ably demonstrates how a simple portrayal can transcend a thousand-word story.
In his latest exhibition, Profile, presented by Katara Art Centre (KAC), Cultural Village Complex and Al-Markhiya Gallery showcases the renowned Palestinian artist’s prowess as a man of diverse ideas.    



Al-Hawajri believes that technology has a great and influential role in creativity.

“The circumstances I live in, which have been turned into works of modern art, are inspirational and their subjects plentiful. Painting, video, photography and techniques of modern art are used in the manner I want to address and present to my viewers,” says al-Hawajri in his statement, referring to his artwork in Profile.
His interest in modern art comes from his belief that technology has a great and influential role in creativity, in particular in the field of visual arts.
“My subject matter is illusions to the circumstances I live in, and to the way in which the people of Gaza are living daily being subjected to fluctuating political, economic and social conditions. These changes are reflected in my artworks,” says the artist, explaining his paintings.  
Al-Hawajri says he is always searching for new possibilities, dialogue and new techniques with which to build his thoughts which emerge from an often bitter reality.
“It is my wish to transform those circumstances into critical and sometimes sarcastic interventions. I intend the critical sarcasm to be a tool to draw people closer to my reality and thereby allowing my viewers a vantage point from which to relate and deal with important human concerns,” adds the artist.
Born in Al Bureij refugee camp in 1976, al-Hawajri lives and works in Gaza, and is a founding member of the Group for confluence of contemporary art called Eltiqa group). As an active personality in the art scene, he not only creates works of art but also organises artists’ exhibitions and workshops at the Eltiqa.
Mohammed who essentially taught himself is one of the important young artists from Gaza. He was nominated to attend several workshops and residencies in Europe and the Middle East and his works have been displayed in a number of solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally.


Mohammed al-Hawajri says his subject matter is illusions to the circumstances he lives in.

An almost constant theme in al-Hawajri’s paintings that is easily recognisable and distinct is the variety of animals from goats, sheep, cattle and horses, with an almost primitavist style, yet there is nothing simple or primitive about these works as they are very reminiscent of the first depictions and paintings made by the first human settlements.
His work shows as if the artist has liberated himself from all the layers brought by technology and modernity and went back to the very basics of human expression, in which the human has a fascination with the characters and behaviours of the animals that surround him or her.
Perhaps one of the most remarkable elements about Mohammed al-Hawajri’s works is that neither his colours nor his motifs nor his subject matters have any relationships whatsoever with the sordid realities of Gaza, says Al Housh House of Arab Art and Design.
His paintings are in fact very reminiscent yet distinct from the works of Wassili Kedinsky or Franz Mark with their vibrant colours, fast brush strokes demarked by black lines. There is no doubt that al-Hawajri will become one of the most important artists to emerge from the Arab world.
In 1997, al-Hawajri participated in the Palestinian Spring Cultural events in Marseilles and Paris, France, and was awarded the Certificate of Merit from the Arab League in 1998. In 2000, he was shortlisted for the first Abdel-Mohsin Qattan Foundation Artist of the Year in Ramallah.
From 1999-2001, al-Hawjari participated in summer academy at Dar-Alfonon supervised by professor Marwan Qassab Bachi, and won first prize during the course at the academy.
In 1999, he arranged his first personal exhibition at the French Cultural Center in Gaza entitled, ‘New faces’. His 2001 exhibition, Curl Black addresses Arab crafts and the importance of Arab trade, presenting their aesthetic value through a visual movement.
His work was selected in 2002 in Amman Gallery Zarra, Garnd Hyatt Amman, Jordan depicting spices and food component and parts of his showing animals in different forms.
In 2007 at Gaza’s French Cultural Center exhibition titled Spirit and Fragrances was an advance group of paintings dominated by the presence of symbols used in the word Arab. Al-Hawajri tends to focus on things that are often neglected. He has participated in numerous exhibitions both inside and outside of Palestine
Profile is on display for another 10 days at the KAC, building 5 in Katara.