Painter and sculptor Khalil Raian studied art in Beit al-Karma in Haifa in 1964 and 1967, after which he moved to Jerusalem to complete his studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, where he later worked as Lecturer in the Department of Sculpture for three years. He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Palestine and abroad. Raian believes in art education: “Although learning does not make an artist, it narrows the gap between art and its creator by offering ideas and widening the artist’s imagination and capabilities.” About his artistic influences, he says, “I cannot avoid our lived reality, the details of human pain and suffering. Through my sculpture and painting, I communicate both real stories and fantasies, and I express my connection to parenthood, land, life, thirsty creatures, trees, women and motherhood.”
