Exhibition
25 January – 14 March 2008
paintings by
Zahi Khamis
“Having lost home and exhausted exile, I stand in front of my canvasses – my final trench – and resist Despair. Shaped by an old and stubborn habit of mine – Hope – I, with a paint brush in my hand, decide, yes it is still possible to create.
“These images on the walls are the results of my attempt, at the darkest hour, to say yes to life, yes to art, and yes to beauty.”
Born in the Palestinian village of Reineh outside of Nazareth in 1959, Zahi Khamis emigrated to Europe and then to the United States in his early twenties. After earning his degree in Mathematics, and studying literature extensively, Zahi eventually turned towards painting as his primary form of expression. Appearing in numerous solo shows, group exhibits, books, and other publications, Zahi’s work is part of a long tradition of committed art, expressing the painful, yet luminous, contradictions of all those who struggle for liberation.
