Born in 1976 in Al Bureij Refugee Camp, Gaza. 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 short listed for the first Abdel-Mohsin Qattan Foundation Artist of the Year in Ramallah. As an active personality in the art scene, he not only creates works of art but also organizes 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.

 

An almost constant theme in Al Hawajri’s paintings that is easily recognizable 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. It is 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 behaviors 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 colors nor his motifs nor his subject matters have any relationships whatsoever with the sordid realities of Gaza. His paintings are in fact very reminiscent yet distinct from the works of Wassili Kedinsky or Franz Mark with their vibrant colors, 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. 


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