About the artist
Born in 1963 in Umm al-Fahm, where he still lives and works, Farid Abu Shakra is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, curator, writer and art lecturer at Oranim College. A graduate of the Kalisher Art Academy (1984–1988), he has shown in solo and group exhibitions in Israel and around the world, and has curated exhibitions at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Museum of Islamic Art, the Eretz Israel Museum and the Umm al-Fahm Art Gallery, which he founded together with his brother Said Abu Shakra. A distinguished painter, his work returns again and again to home, land and belonging — from the Country’s Landscape series to The Road to Abstraction and the embroidery motifs. He is also a founding member of the art gallery in Nazareth and of the Ibdaa Group for Contemporary Artists.
Artist statement
“The landscape here is not a view. It is a question about home, and I keep drawing it until it answers.”
Timeline
1963
Born in Umm al-Fahm, where he continues to live and work.
1984–1988
Studies at the Kalisher Art Academy, Tel Aviv.
1986, 1988
Awarded the Young Artist Prize of the Moshe Sharett Foundation.
1996
Co-founds the Umm al-Fahm Art Gallery with his brother Said Abu Shakra.
1999, 2000, 2006
Receives the Artist–Teacher Award of the Ministry of Education.
2008–
Begins the Country’s Landscape series, later leading to The Road to Abstraction.
Today
Lectures in art at Oranim College and curates exhibitions in museums and galleries.
Awards
- Young Artist Prize, Moshe Sharett Foundation (1986, 1988)
- Artist–Teacher Award, Ministry of Education (1999, 2000, 2006)
- Founding member, Umm al-Fahm Art Gallery, the Nazareth art gallery and the Ibdaa Group for Contemporary Artists