Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 28 August 2026
Sliman Mansour R.I.P.
Mansour, one of the most important contemporary Palestinian artists, was buried in his hometown of Bir Zeit, in the area of Ramallah on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. He had passed away at the age of 79 two days earlier. The funeral was presided over by the Lutheran Bishop of Jerusalem Imad Haddad in the Anglican Church of Saint Peter.
The Zawyeh Gallery has a short biography of the artist on their website:
Born in 1947 in Birzeit, Palestine, Sliman Mansour studied Fine Art at the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. Mansour is a key founder of the contemporary Palestinian art movement, and he became the head of the League of Palestinian Artists in the 1980s. Mansour played a key role in the establishment of the International Academy of Art Palestine, as well as the Al-Wasti Art Centrein East Jerusalem in the 1990s.
He is known for his 1973 work Camel of Hardship, which depicts an old porter carrying Jerusalem on his back. Mansour has tailored his comprehensive portfolio around the Palestinian struggle, portraying peasants and women in traditional dress in his early work as well as symbols for Palestinian resistance. In 1989, during the first Intifada, Mansour and other artists in the “New Visions” art collective boycotted Israeli art supplies, producing artworks by using local materials. Mansour used mud, straw and henna in his work for over a decade. More recently, Mansour focused on drawing the Palestinian landscape using the olive tree as a symbol for the land. (source: https://zawyeh.net/sliman-mansour/)
Watch a short tribute to him here: