About — Sabreen Haj Ahmad

Girl with an Orchid · Watercolor · 2023

Biography

Sabreen Haj Ahmad

Sabreen Haj Ahmad is a Palestinian researcher and multidisciplinary artist based in Ramallah, Palestine. Her practice explores the transformative interplay between colonial environmental change and Indigenous Palestinians, with particular focus on the effects of environmental colonialism and gendered violence on Palestinian landscapes, women, and biodiversity.

By integrating indigenous knowledge into her practice, Haj Ahmad follows an anti-colonial and decolonial approach to examine ecological disruption and systemic oppression. Through painting, installation, illustration, and community workshops, she documents and reflects on women's narratives — envisioning pathways toward a liberated future for Palestine and Indigenous peoples worldwide.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts / Drawing and Oil Painting from An-Najah National University (2019) and is completing a Master's in Intercultural Communication and Literature at the Arab American University, Ramallah.

WatercolorMixed Media Oil PaintingInstallation IllustrationCeramics CollageCommunity Art

Artist Statement

My art is an act of witnessing — the land, the body, the plant, the woman, the root.

Combining narrative, research, and artistic expression, Haj Ahmad explores a compelling commentary on the intersections of nature, identity, and resistance. Her practice moves fluidly between the intimate — a single watercolor figure merging with a flower — and the monumental, such as the large-scale installation Jerusalem's Orchid, a cascade of rare Palestinian orchids flowing across gallery walls and floors.

Themes & Practice

Areas of Work

Environmental & Decolonial Art

Examining how environmental colonialism reshapes the relationship between Palestinian women and their natural surroundings, drawing on indigenous ecological knowledge.

Women's Narratives

Centering Palestinian women's stories and embodied experiences — through portraiture, figure studies, installation, and collaborative workshop practice.

Community & Pedagogy

Facilitating workshops on sustainable art, ceramics, Palestinian cities and landscapes — building connections between creative practice and social awareness.

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