Asim Abu Shakra

Asim Abu Shakra was born in 1961 in Umm al-Fahm

Asim Abu Shakra was born on November 11, 1961, in Umm al-Fahm, to a Muslim family. His parents were Salah and Ruqaya Abu Shakra. He went to primary school in his village and later studied at a high school in Afula, then asked to return home.

In 1982 he moved to Tel Aviv and studied at the Kalisher Art School until 1986. Teachers and artists such as David Reeb, Uri Shtettner and Moshe Kupferman shaped his work. The school director gave him a room in the school building during a time of money trouble.

After his studies he worked at a print shop and then taught drawing at Kalisher. His early paintings showed village scenes, but he later turned to the image of a cactus in a pot. The image was read as linking the fate of Palestinians cut off from their land with his own life.

He held his first solo show at the Rap Gallery in Tel Aviv in 1988, the year he fell ill with cancer. In 1989 he won a prize from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and showed there again. He died of cancer on April 5, 1990, and shows of his work were later held at the Israel Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.