Dalloul Art Foundation

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RANA BISHARA RANA BISHARA

RANA BISHARA, Palestine (1971)

Bio

Born in 1971, in the village of Tarshiha in the Galilee, Palestine, Rana Bishara is a Palestinian interdisciplinary artist. Her body of work spans across painting, photography, graphic design,...

Born in 1971, in the village of Tarshiha in the Galilee, Palestine, Rana Bishara is a Palestinian interdisciplinary artist. Her body of work spans across painting, photography, graphic design, sculpture, installation art, and performance. She received a BA degree in Fine Arts, Women’s Studies and Philosophy, from Haifa University in 1993. In 2003 she completed her MA in Fine Arts on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, USA. 

Bishara’s art revolves around the ongoing occupation of Palestine and the consequent political conflict. She sheds light on the cultural annihilation and human rights abuse exercised in the occupied territories of Palestine, yet, overlooked in the mainstream media. Based on collective memory and storytelling, she explores notions of identity, displacement, and loss. Symbolic materials and imagery are central in Bishara’s body of work. Though highly political, her art is provoking and poetic. It reflects the irreversible trauma, distress, and emotions common to the Palestinian experience.

One of her most important themes is the cactus plant. Known as Sabra in Arabic, which means patience, cacti are symbolic of resilience; they also mark the locations of villages and serve as fences. The artist collects them from the fields outside the villages, dries them, paints on them, and uses them in her installations. She even dips them in chocolate. Inspired by the shape of the prickly pear cactus leaf, she produces paintings with colorful abstracted depictions. Bishara, not only tests the environmental resilience of cacti but exploits their artistic potential. 

In her sculptural production and installation art, the artist’s choice of material ranges from wood, glass, steel, to ephemeral products such as zaatar – thyme, bread, and chocolate. Bishara shows photographs silk screened on glass in the unusual medium of chocolate in a series of political and historical photographs knowns as Blindfolded History. To revive the notion of home, Bishara produced symbolic ‘homeless’ pillows using traditional folkloric fabric and others that promote resistance such as the kufiyah. Bishara’s art, in both its applied and conceptual manifestations,  defines the Palestinians identity.

This is a short biography. The full version , along with research, CV and sources will be posted soon. Stay tuned and visit us often or become a member to be notified of our updates.

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CV

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2008

Bread and Salt – Women workshop, Palestinian Art Court, Al-Hoash, Palestine
Visions, Palestinian Art Court, Al-Hoash, Palestine

2004

Creation, Xanadu Art Gallery, New York, United States of America
Bergen Hall Gallery, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, United States of America

2000

Voyage of the Returnees, The Arts & Crafts Village Gallery, Gaza, Palestine

1999

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah, Palestine
Nazareth Cultural Center, Nazareth, Palestine

1996

Rathhaus, Aarau, Switzerland
Jules Gloor Gallery, Aarau, Switzerland

1993

First Solo Exhibition, Nazareth, Occupied Palestine

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008

Memory Triptych, Palestinian Art Court, Al-hoach, Palestine

2006

Made in Palestine,The Bridge Gallery, New York, United States of America
Paranoia, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, United Kingdom 

2005

Visit Palestine: A Voyage Through Contemporary Art, 4 Walls Gallery, Amman, Jordan
Ten Artist Ten Years, Aarau, Switzerland 
Made in Palestine, T.W. Wood Art Gallery & Art Center, Montpelier, France
The Subject of Palestine, SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, California, United States of America

2003

Made in Palestine, Station Art Museum, Houston Texas, United States of America

2002

Williamsburg Bridges Palestine – The Face of Palestinian Humanity through Art Culture, Williamsburg Art & Historic Center, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
Palestinian Artist Today, WUK Projektraum, Vienna, Austria

2001

Entity – Palestinian Women Artists, Nazareth Cultural Center, Nazareth, Occupied Palestine

1999

Palestinian Artists Today, Drammen Museum of Art and Cultural History, Drammen, Norway
Darat Al-Funun Gallery, Amman, Jordan
Gateway, The National Gallery of fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
50 Years of Creativity, Nazareth Cultural Center, Nazareth, Occupied Palestine

1998

Al-Wasiti Art Center, Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine
Ami Stienetz Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Occupied Palestine
Umm Al-Fahm City Gallery, Umm Al-Fahm, Palestine
Palestinian Art, Royal Academy of Art, Stockholm, Sweden
Home, Anadeel Gallery, Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine

1997

The Scream of the Wadi, Installation, Haifa, Occupied Palestine

1995

Wohin?, One year Touring Exhibition, Muenster, Telgte, Kassel, Oldenburg, Duesseldorf Fellbach and Cologne, Germany

1995

The Artist Museum, Lodz, Poland 

1994

From Galilee to Jerusalem, Al-Wasiti Art Center, Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine

Collections

Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon
The National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
Darat Al-Funun, Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan
Qupty’s Family Private Collection for Contemporary Palestinian Art, Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine
Pamela and Ramsey Khalidi’s Private Collection, Savannah, United States of America
Hala Al Kayali private collection, New York, United States of America
Art Omi International Arts Center, New York, United States of America
The Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, United States of America

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Videos
Rana Bishara-2
رنا بشارة - الفن التشكيلي وأعمالها الفنية - ابداع
الفنانة رنا بشارة في مسيرة العودة الى الكويكات
الفنانة رنا بشارة تقيم طقوسًا خاصة احياءً لذكرى استشهاد ناجي العلي في قرية الشجرة | www.ehna.tv
Rose & Rana-2
Rose & Rana-1
Rana Bshara - الفنانة التشكيلية رنا بشارة
Rana Bishara-2
Intimate Terrains Opening - Press Conference 2019 المؤتمر الصحفي الخاص بافتتاح معرض اقتراب الآفاق
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Exhibitions
Made in Palestine
Intimate Terrains: Representations of a Disappearing Landscape

RANA BISHARA Artwork

Jenin 1

RANA BISHARA, Palestine, 2002
173 x 206 cm

Jenin 2

RANA BISHARA, Palestine, 2002
137.5 x 169 cm

Jenin 3

RANA BISHARA, Palestine, 2003
137 x 186 cm

Untitled

RANA BISHARA, Palestine, 2005
44 x 59 cm

Untitled

RANA BISHARA, Palestine, 2005
44 x 59 cm

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