About

Shahd Abusalama, 20, is a Palestinian artist, a blogger and an English literature student living in Gaza City, Palestine. Some of her passions are writing, drawing, singing, traditional Palestinian embroidery, sports and Dabka, a form of traditional Palestinian dance. She is interested in conveying the images, experience and emotions of the Palestinian people as well as their strength, determination, struggle and suffering. Being a daughter of a former Palestinian prisoner has been the primary source of inspiration for her work fighting injustice through her drawings and writings. Her paintings were featured in a calendar called Gaza Calendar 2011 “All I Want Is Peace” that sold a thousand copies in Europe and on the front of Eid greetings cards sold in the UK. YouthSchool Organization, a Scottish Charity sponsored the work, helping to raise money for youth farming projects in Gaza, while the Eid cards helped to support Gaza orphans to develop creative arts and crafts. Moreover, she had several exhibitions in Gaza, the US, Japan, Italy, Scotland and also her drawings have appeared in various publications in over 10 countries. In 2005, she had represented the folk dancing of Palestine in a tour of Dabka performances around the United Kingdom at the invitation of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. In July, 2011, she went to the USA in a leadership program. She blogs at Electronic Intifada, and she can always be followed at @shahdabusalama.