Born in 1956 in Shefa-‘Amr, Palestine, Zahed Harash is a painter and a writer who has been an activist for many years concerning the Palestinian issue. In his pictorial oeuvre, he refers to his homeland depicting prominent figures of the cultural and artistic history of Palestine in the 19th, such as the modern painter Ismail Shammout or the famous author and poet Mahmoud Darwish. He uses ink on paper to convey the idea of resistance and the loss of land. He prefers to represent the motif of the olive tree, which has a specific meaning in the Palestinian iconography. The Palestinian soils have some of the oldest olive trees in the world, and it turns to symbolize the attachment of the Palestinians to their land. In a way, it shows the historical legitimacy of their presence in this territory. The drawings of the artist seem to translate the hope of finding this land again. Zahid Harash lives and works in Shefa-‘Amr.
