Shareef Sarhan
Beyond the Ruins
A freelance photographer and designer born in Gaza, Sarhan is a founding member of the Windows from Gaza for Contemporary Art group. He earned a diploma in arts from the ICS in the United States and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, such as at The Arts and Crafts Village and The Port Gallery in Gaza, in addition to exhibiting his work in Palestine and abroad.
Born in Gaza, Shareef Sarhan is a freelance photographer and designer who has chosen art as a tool for survival and resistance in a land marked by continuous siege and daily deprivation. A founding member of the Windows from Gaza for Contemporary Art collective, Sarhan has transformed his artistic practice into a visual testimony of life under siege.
A graduate with a diploma in arts from ICS in the United States, he has exhibited in Palestine and abroad, always carrying with him the urgency to tell stories often invisible to the rest of the world. “For me, photography is an act of care, a way to restore dignity to those who seem destined for oblivion,” he states.
His work stems from a desire to capture the fragility and strength of people living in extreme conditions, portraying faces, gestures, and spaces laden with memory and pain. In every shot, Sarhan seeks to reveal daily resilience—that capacity to continue existing and fighting against all odds.
For him, art is not just representation, but a form of political commitment: “When I shoot, I give a voice to those who cannot speak. Art becomes my way to resist injustice and erasure.” In 2023, after the destruction of the Windows center, he continued to create and teach, transforming rubble into spaces of creation and hope.
The reality of Gaza, Sarhan explains, is made of contrasts: on one hand, a daily life marked by precarity, and on the other, the tenacity of those who refuse to give up on dreaming and creating. This dual tension runs through every one of his images, where light filters through the ruins and illuminates stories of life, pain, but also of indomitable humanity.
Through his photography, Sarhan builds bridges between Gaza and the world, offering a human and profound gaze on a complex and painful reality. “My goal is for the viewer not only to see, but to feel—to feel the life, the struggle, the beauty hidden among the ruins.”
@ Elettra Stamboulis
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