The artist who used land to capture Palestinian identity

Sliman Mansour, a renowned Palestinian artist born in 1947 in Birzeit near Ramallah, approached his art with a unique perspective. Unlike many of his predecessors, Mansour did not use conventional art materials produced by Israel but instead boycotted them. He chose to create his works using local materials, such as clay, which held deep symbolic significance for the Palestinian identity.

Mansour's artistic journey began with his studies in Jerusalem from 1967 to 1970, followed by teaching art at a United Nations women's teacher training college from 1975 to 1982. During his formative years, he devoted significant attention to handicrafts, particularly embroidery, recognizing the cultural preservation of an entire people's heritage. He also immersed himself in traditional crafts like copper, enamel, wood, and ceramics, which eventually became central to his paintings.

In the early 1980s, Mansour co-founded the group Towards Experimentation and Creativity with Vera Tamari, Tayseer Barakat, and Nabil Anani. This collective, which emerged during the Intifada, turned to alternative art materials such as coffee, henna, and clay. Their boycott of Israeli art materials marked a significant contribution to the resistance art movement and challenged the prevailing assumptions about Palestinian resistance art.

While the group initially focused on painting the Intifada, they soon realized the importance of creating a Palestinian art capable of revolt in its own right.