Nishat Adwan 27 spends most of his time in his own private space and world with limestones from which he makes shapes and sculptures embodying pieces of art from the real life of Gaza or from his own imagination.
Nishat began his obsession with arts at the age of 13 when he was drawing on paper for his classmates at school but following dropping from school in the 10th grade his desire to bring out his talent was reinforced.
Sense of an artist
Nishat has a small shop divided into two sections the first has fodder shawls and cans of spices while the other part is dedicated to sculpture antiques and paintings that he has made over the years.
“I have always read about the great painters and sculptors like Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci” Nishat told the PIC. “Sculptures make us learn about lifestyle and culture of the old life. I began to translate my thoughts into sculptors.”
Above the shelves of the shop lay pieces of art of a young sculptor who is cut off from the world because of the poor economic conditions and the siege of Gaza which deprived him of the opportunity to communicate with the world and to leave Gaza to the outside world.
Book of St. Hilarion
Nishat is proud of a piece he carved years ago which embodies the pages of a book on which the life of St. Hilarion is written not far from the monastery where he lived where the house of Nishat is located.
For a few days now he has been busy sculpting a piece of limestone embodying the return ship using simple tools (hammer rasp chisel). Each piece takes a different time than the other.
“The atmosphere of siege and the suffering of Gaza affect any artist; artists need to communicate with the outside world and art experts and sculptors. I am disconnected from the world except for doing some reading and looking for some information on sculpture on the internet but I need tools to improve my talent” he said.
The acquisition of limestones by the young sculptor is difficult forcing him to search for them for a long time near the beach.
He places antiques on his shop shelves which he purchases from the Gaza Strip’s popular markets because they are the focus of every artist who has a critical vision of the world around him he notes.
His isolation is interrupted by customers who wish to obtain poultry and livestock feed or varieties of spices from his small shop.
