Maria Saleh Mahameed
Graduate of Oranim College, where she is also currently a graduate student. Had solo exhibitions at the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Jerusalem Artists’ House, Mishkan Museum of Art Ein Harod and Maya Gallery TLV. Participated in group exhibitions at the Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery and Talpiot Market Haifa. A recipient of an excellence award during her studies and a Young Artists award from Hecht Museum. Took part at the Artport residency programme For Saleh Mahameed, art is a way of life. Through it she expresses her thoughts, opinions and protest, allowing herself to heal. With art, she addresses her complex national and religious identity and reflects the world in which she lives. Her work is affected by personal and familial events, politics, her society and everyday life. In addition to her etchings, she often works with charcoal on canvas, spreading the canvas and delving into it so that she merges with it and annuls any distinction between herself and the work. Her art is created intuitively and without preliminary sketches, and the process of questioning, experimenting, failing and succeeding is evident in the final result. Her solo shows stemmed from major events in her life; a bone marrow donation to an anonymous child, a severe traffic accident and her wedding were all expressed in her art. Saleh Mahameed continues to examine life and death, peace and violence, her identity between Um El Fahem and Kiev, and searches for what she calls “the thing that keeps us alive”. Her primal and emotional interaction with these themes manifests upon the blank canvas.
