Biography

Adam Shehada is a self taught pencil artist who was born in 1991, Gaza, Palestine; he studied in the UNRWA schools for refugees, and later in 2014, he graduated from university with a bachelor degree in Business Administration. Adam’s talent was discovered by his parents at the age of only 5 years old, with the encouragement of his parents and teachers in school, he was able to deeply fall in love with drawing, especially drawing anime and cartoon characters.

Adam’s life in Palestine has been heavy with wars and tragedies, he survived many deadly attacks and wars on his city ‘Gaza’, he left Palestine in 2019 for the first time in his life and came to the UK which he now considers as his second home.

In 2014, Adam discovered his potential in creating very realistic drawings with fine details using only pencils, from this point on, Adam has dedicated thousands of hours to refine his artistic skills and perfect his drawings in a way that would leave the viewers stunned and drawn closer into the story of these hyper-realistic drawings.

Before he left Palestine, Adam debuted his first solo exhibition at the French institute in Gaza with the assistance of his dear friend from the UK, he titled the exhibition ‘Inextinguishable Suns’ which was dedicated to the children of Palestine. Since then, Adam has built a reputation as one of first and best hyper realism artists in Palestine and has consistently exhibited his work locally as well as internationally.

During moments of great personal difficulty and adversity, Adam has continued to create art for his salvation and serenity and so that he can convey the message of his people as well as the marginalized and torn communities around the world.

Adam’s work has been featured on many local as well as international press outlets such as Palestine TV, AJ+, BBC Radio, Alarabiya TV channel, This Week in Palestine Magazine, Pal+ Arabic and others.

Adam’s art explores the themes of humanity and injustice through the eyes of the innocent and through his highly detailed pencil portrait drawings. The onlooker is immediately captivated and drawn closer to catch a glimpse of the graphite or a pencil stroke in order to determine whether it’s a photograph or drawing. It’s through looking closely at his drawings that the audience is transported to a time and place that tells the narrative of the plight.