Artist’s statement

My work has developed from paintings, graffiti and mixed media, and has directly dealt with the polemics of a place, how to humanise it and its influence on our creativity. I assert my identity as essentially part of and perhaps born out of those places. We all want to feel that we belong to a social and cultural community, constantly longing for a feeling of attachment, rooted in a particular place with a sense of significant ownership of that place. My work is deeply influenced by these socio-political sentiments. Questions such as who we are are often intimately related to questions of where we are, so inextricably bound to defining our location in relation to self and other.

More recently my work began to engage with the search into the self. To achieve this I used the body as signifier. The work often shows threatened self-identity through the process of scrutiny and experimentation. The work deals with personal vulnerability and an experience of existential anxiety strongly associated with issues such as religion, nationalism, conflict and identity construction and looks for meaning not in the individual sign but in the context of exile and fragmentation.

My work touches on completely new creative surroundings with new physical freedom, away from the alienating materialistic and visual effects of my occupied homeland. I study the place’s materialistic, psychological, aesthetic and meditational effects. I believe that the human self is an essential part of this holistic system, regardless of its closeness or distance from a place. I try to touch the inner state of the viewer by creating a state of chaos to get his or her psychological and emotional attention. Through this inner confusion, the physical experience forces the viewer to reconsider the self and its relationship with its surroundings, dominated by division and exile, where “progress” seems to mean bloody destruction and enslavement of the human soul.

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Biography

Bashar Alhroub was born in Jerusalem in 1978. He grew up in the West Bank in the village Kharas near Hebron. He has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from An-Najah National University in Nablus, which he completed in 2001. In 2009, he was awarded a fellowship from the FORD Foundation to pursue an MFA, 2010 he got his MFA from Winchester School of Art- University of Southampton. Since then he has been living in Ramallah.

His work uses a variety of media including painting, drawing, photography, installation, video and graffiti all within a conceptual frame that utilizes the Universal notions of place, humans attachment and relationship to one’s environment. He is grasping at the space between poetic and political.

Solo Exhibitions include “Reflective Consciousness”at Mosaic Room gallery in London 2010, "Horizon" at the A.M.Qattan Foundation in Ramallah in 2003, "Shrqiat" which was shown at the Alhlaj Gallery in Ramallah and the Peace Center in Bethlehem in 2005 and "Monologue" at the Almahatta Gallery in Ramallah which then traveled to Jerusalem, Nablus and Nazareth in 2009.

Alhroub participated in several group exhibitions, projects and festivals throughout Palestine and abroad including the UAE, Lebanon, Morocco, France, Oman, Algeria, Syria, Japan, France, Scotland, Norway, USA, and the UK. He took part in several Triangle Arts International Artists workshops, Shatana, Jordan with Makan Artist Space, Braziers Workshop in the UK, and was a founder and participant of the first ever International workshop in Palestine hosted by Almahatta Gallery.

He was the organizer and exhibition coordinator for the Abu Jehad Museum, which focuses on the Prisoners movement Affairs in Palestine. He is a founding member of Almahatta Gallery in Ramallah whose main goal is to reach a wider public audience for contemporary art in the area.

Bashar Alhroub
Ramallah - Palestine

Born in Jerusalem , Palestine, in 1978
Lives and works in Ramallah,

Education:

2010- MFA Fine Art, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK

2001 B.A. in Fine Arts, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

Membership:

A founding member for Al Mahatta Gallery.
Board member in the Palestinian Artists League
member and organizer for Almahatta International Artists Workshop- Palestine

Solo Exhibitions:

2010“The Other Is Me” Winchester School of art, Winchester, UK

2010 “Reflective Consensuses” Mosaic Rooms Gallery – London, UK.

2009 "Monologue", Al-Mahatta Gallery- Ramallah, Jerusalem, Nazareth and Gaza, Palestine

2005 "Sharqiyat", Al-Hallaj Gallery, Ramallah & the Peace Center, Bethlehem, Palestine.

2003 “Horizon”, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine.

Group Exhibitions:

2010    - “Vitamin Sandnes” , Sandnes, Norway
      - “Borderlines. Deconstructing Exile”, Green Art Gallery,Dubai
   - “ Supernormal Festival” , Brazier, UK
   - “ Living Spaces” 2nd All art now festival, Damascus, Syria
   - “Creative Palestinian Art” SAWA Gallery, Dubai, UAE
   - “17th International Festival of Video Art of Casablanca”, Morocco
   - “Beyond the Self” Dar Al-Kalima College
2009   - “DESMOND” winchester school of art Gallery - UK
           - An exhibition for the Palestinian Artists , Oman
           - “outside inside” exhibition, Ramallah- Palestine
           - “DDifferent Mood” exhibition, Orient Gallery, Amman- Jordan

- White Night” French Consulate ،Jerusalem, Palestine

2008 - 'Occupied Space', The Mosaic Rooms London, UK

           - 'The Passport' Exhibition, Al-Mahatta Gallery, Ramallah, Palestine.
              Dartalfnon, Amman, Jordan , Al Sharja- UAE
           - The Palestinian Cultural Week Exhibition, the occupied Golan, Syria.
           - An exhibition for the Palestinian Art - Damascus, Arab Cultural Capital,
             Syria.
2007   - An exhibition for the Palestinian Art, Al-Rabat and Casablanca,
             Morocco.
           - An exhibition for the Palestinian Art - Algiers, Arab Cultural Capital,
              Algeria.
2006 - International Human Rights Festival, Adenbra, Scotland.
           - An exhibition for the Palestinian Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway.
           - The Asian African Exhibition “Jaala”, Tokyo, Japan.
           - 'Behind the Wall' Exhibitions, Al-Jalil, Haifa, Nazareth.
2005   - 'Color from Palestinian' exhibition, Dubai, UAE.
           - The Asian African Exhibition “Jaala”, Tokyo, Japan.
2004   - The Asian African Exhibition “Jaala”, Tokyo, Japan.
           - “Palestinian Colors”, Lebanese Ministry of Culture, Beirut, Lebanon
2003 - Al Hallaj Gallery opening Exhibition, Palestinian Artists League, Ramallah.
2001   - Participated in Al Sharja Biennale for Arab Youth, UAE

Workshops & Projects:

2009 The International artists workshop, Almahatta- Palestine
2009 outside inside public art workshop- Palestine
2009 Sean International Festival for video and performance- Palestine
2008   The International Artists Workshop “Shatna”, Jordan.
2008   Public Art Workshop – MASARAT Project, Ramallah, Palestine.
2007   The International Artists Workshop “Braziers”, UK.
2007   Organized and designed Abu Jihad Museum for the Prisoners
            Movement Affairs, Palestine.
2007   Participated in “9 hours in London” Photography joint project with the
            Mexican artist Veronica Flowers, London, UK.
2005   Contemporary Art Workshop, the International Academy of Art, Ramallah,
             Palestine
2005   The International Art Workshop “Jifna Spring”, Jifna, Palestine.
2004   Al-Rabat International Festival, production of two murals, Rabat and
            Asilah, Morocco.
2001   Participated in workshops of the Book international Festival, Paris,
            France.