Sighting: My poster of Palestinian artist Heba Zagout at the Gym DIY in Hackney Wick, UK
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EXCERPT
Israel-Palestine war: Palestinian artist killed in Gaza air strike was a ‘one in a million talent’
Heba Zagout, a Palestinian artist and educator, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza along with two of her children
Published date: 18 October 2023 14:46 BST
Heba Zagout dreamed of freedom whenever she put paint on canvas.
As an educator and artist she dedicated her life to documenting Palestinian heritage and history as it faced endless erasure and threat under Israeli occupation.
Her works were profound, rich in beauty and detail, often telling the spirit of the Palestinian people.
They incorporated iconic elements like Palestinian homes, farms, daily activities, shrubs and trees, mosques and churches, underscoring the need of preserving Palestinian identity in the face of adversity.
Even greater than her passion for painting, however, was her unwavering love and commitment to her family.
Born in the Al Burejj refugee camp in Gaza, Zagout grew up listening to the stories of her elders, who would routinely narrate the events leading up to the creation of Israel in 1948.
According to her sister Maysaa Ghazi, Zagout developed a love of painting from a young age.
This included telling the stories of her own family - Palestinians who were forcibly expelled from the village of Isdud, now known as the Israeli city of Ashdod, and made to seek refuge in the Gaza Strip.
In 2003, Zagout received a diploma in graphic design. Four years later, she graduated from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, specialising in fine arts.
Shortly afterwards, she became an art teacher at a primary school in Gaza.
Zagout continued to paint, both as a means to connect the region to art lovers across the world and to help pay the bills as the sole breadwinner for her family of six.
But on 13 October her life came to a tragic end when an Israeli air strike targeted the home where she was staying, killing her and two of her four children, Adam and Mahmoud.
According to her sister Ghazi, Zagout's husband and their two other children, Faisal and Baraa, survived.
"She used to sell the art to support her children," Ghazi told MEE. "They [Israel] destroyed her house and everything."