Hannan Abu-Hussein

Hannan Abu-Hussein investigates the status of women, violence against women, the oppression of women in Arab societies and the integration (or lack thereof) of Arab women in Israeli culture. Abu-Hussein’s work reveals paradoxes and conflicting feelings Palestinian women have toward their bodies, where they struggle between free expression and their survival in society, which imposes rules and restrictions on how women are to look and act.

Born in 1972 in Umm el-Fahem, Abu-Hussein lives and works in Jerusalem. Abu-Hussein earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Bezalel Academy. She studied Education & Arts Institutions Management in the School of Business, Tel Aviv University and received a postgraduate diploma in the Department of Ceramics at the Bezalel Academy.

Selected solo exhibitions include:

2014: "Momentary Freedom", Barbur Gallery, Jerusalem
2014: "Deep Birth", Art Grand Gallery, Haifa
2009: "Broken", Comme il faut, Tel-Aviv
2008: "Under the Tile", Office in Tel-Aviv Gallery, Tel-Aviv
2008: "Samt el frashat", Bet Ahote, Tel-Aviv
2007: "Sharp cover", D. Yalin Gallery, Jerusalem

Abu-Hussein has received numerous awards including Israel’s Ministry of Culture Prize in 2014 and Master Teacher Award from the Ministry of Education in 2011. In 2005, Abu-Hussein was the first Arab female artist to win the Ministry of Education’s Young Artist Award. She was named Outstanding Artist twice by the American Israeli Fund, in 2002 and 2000.

Abu-Hussein has taught at the Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Tel-Aviv and, since 1999, as a Senior Instructor at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.