Departures of note

Sliman Mansour was a Palestinian painter, sculptor, author and cartoonist, widely regarded as one of the most prominent and influential artists of the post-Nakba generation. Born in Birzeit in 1947, he studied art and design at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, graduating in 1970, and developed a realist style depicting the daily life, traditions and struggle of the Palestinian people under occupation.

In 1987, together with Vera Tamari, Tayseer Barakat and Nabil Anani, he co-founded the New Visions collective, which boycotted Israeli art supplies during the First Intifada and instead worked with local natural materials such as mud, clay and straw. His best-known work, Camel of Hardships (1973), depicting an old Palestinian man carrying Jerusalem on his back, was hailed as a national and artistic icon.

Mansour contributed extensively to building an infrastructure for the fine arts in Palestine, serving as head of the League of Palestinian Artists from 1986 to 1990, co-founding the al-Wasiti Art Center in East Jerusalem in 1994, and teaching at institutions including Al-Quds University. He was also a co-author of books on traditional Palestinian clothing and embroidery. His work was exhibited internationally and is considered a guardian of Palestinian identity and memory.