Laila Shawa

Born Gaza, Palestine, 1940

Shawa studied at the Leonardo School of Art, Cairo, before graduating in fine arts from the Accademia de Belle Arti, Rome, 1957–64, and in plastic and decorative arts from the Accademia St Giaccomo, Rome, 1960–4. Between 1960 and 1963 she followed additional classes under Italian professor and Expressionist artist Renato Guttuso at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and in the summer under Austrian Expressionist Oskar Kokoschka at the Oskar Kokoschka School of Seeing in Salzburg, Austria. Her work comprises oils on canvas, photographs and silkscreens as well as designs for stained-glass windows at the Cultural Centre in Gaza. Shawa has also worked as an illustrator of books for children, a lecturer and an art education advisor. She has had a number of solo exhibitions in the Middle East and Europe and participated in the touring exhibition Dialogues of the Present:The Work of 18 Arab Women Artists, UK, 1999–2000. She lives and works in London.