By Yusef Hussein

The Palestinian artist Bashar Alhroub was born in Jerusalem in 1978, grew up in Hebron, and is currently living and working in Ramallah. Alhroub graduated with a BA in fine arts from Al-Najah National University. He was awarded a fellowship by the Ford Foundation to pursue a master’s degree in fine arts, which he completed in 2010 at the Winchester School of Art, the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. In 2012, Alhroub was awarded the first grand prize at the 15th Asian Art Biennale, Bangladesh.

Alhroub works with a variety of media that include photography, video installation, drawing, and painting. His work is deeply influenced by his community’s socio-political and cultural sentiments that assert his identity. More recently, his work has begun to engage with the search into the self and is strongly associated with issues such as religion, nationalism, and identity construction, based on his experiences and dealings with personal vulnerability.

   

Alhroub has exhibited at various museums, biennales, and art venues, including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Paul Valéry Museum, Sète, France; American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington DC; the Arab World Institute, Paris; Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; Imperial War Museum, London; Frieze Art Fair, London; Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois, USA; Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem; Jordan National Gallery, Amman; Art Dubai; Abu Dhabi Art, UAE; Eli and Edythe Broad Museum, East Lansing, Michigan, USA; the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland; and many others.

The international artist residencies in which Alhroub has participated include Art Omi, New York; Mattress Factory Contemporary Art Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Delfina Foundation, London; China Printmaking Museum and Guanlan Printmaking Base, China; BAG Art Camp Residency and Workshop, Bergen, Norway; Braziers International Artists Workshop, UK; among many others.

Alhroub was one of 33 artists who participated in a recent exhibition at A.M. Qattan Foundation on Palestinian flora and colonialism, entitled Weed Control, exploring the relationship between the seed and the earth and its symbolism in the struggle for survival between the colonizer and the colonized.

The ongoing exhibition Silent Garden at Zawyeh Gallery in Ramallah (see the October edition of TWiP) has been extended until December 3, 2020.
Find out more about Bashar Alhroub at http://www.basharalhroub.com/.