Shareef Sarhan

Shareef Sarhan, born in Gaza in 1976, is a visual artist and photographer currently living and working in Marseille, France. He is a founding member of Shababeek for Contemporary Art and a member of the Association of Palestinian Artists. Sarhan received his diploma in Art and participated in the Darat Al Funun academy in Jordan. He received the Bronze award of the Festival of Arab Photographers in 2008 and a recognition award in 2007. Sarhan produced the picture book “Gaza Live,” and his work has been exhibited in Gaza, Ramallah, Jerusalem and Amman, as well as in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Norway.

Artist Statement

Sharif Sarhan began his artistic career in 1995 through the “Learning Arts” program at the YMCA in Gaza City. From the outset, art represented for him a space for seeking beauty and a means of expressing his deep connection to nature and humanity. A pivotal moment in his artistic development came through his encounter with the late Syrian artist Marwan Kassab-Bachi at the Summer Art Academy in Amman, where he was introduced to modern art and its role in everyday life — an experience that significantly shaped his artistic vision.

Over time, Sarhan’s practice evolved to encompass a wide range of media, including painting, installation, digital photography, and video, which became a key tool for communicating with the outside world. His works have been exhibited in Paris, London, the United States, Italy, and several Arab countries. Following the imposition of the blockade on Gaza in 2007, Sarhan was deeply affected by the political and social realities of his environment, leading to a noticeable artistic maturity reflected in his search for visual languages capable of conveying Gaza’s lived reality to an international audience.

Through the project “Life in Gaza,” Sarhan presented a profound visual documentation of daily life in this small territory of 360 square kilometres, home to over two million people, revealing how years of siege have reshaped its social and human landscape. In 2015, he launched the project “War Game,” which reflected the experience of Gaza’s residents during 51 days of war, using children’s toys as a medium to express the psychological impact of war on childhood.

In 2016, Sarhan produced “Gaza’s Lighthouse,” the first large-scale installation artwork presented in public space in Gaza. The project was based on reusing environmental materials and remnants of war to construct a lighthouse using contemporary artistic concepts and materials — a significant shift in both Sarhan’s practice and Palestinian contemporary art, moving art from gallery spaces into the street, and affirming the role of public art as a tool for dialogue and collective participation.

The artist residency at Cité des arts de la rue — Marseille represents a crucial stage in Sharif Sarhan’s artistic trajectory: a specialized production environment for public and installation art, alongside direct engagement with artists, institutions, and diverse audiences. Within this context, the production and installation of the second edition of “Gaza Lighthouse” in Marseille serves as a symbolic and visual bridge between Gaza and the French urban landscape, reinforcing art as a medium for memory, dialogue, and rethinking concepts of place and identity.

Sharif Sarhan is currently working on a series of new projects scheduled for realization between 2026 and 2030 — public space artworks, a new photographic book documenting life in Gaza, and the production and installation of the second edition of “Gaza Lighthouse” in Marseille — as part of his ongoing commitment to transforming local and personal experiences into a universal human visual language.