KHALED JARRAR (PALESTINIAN, B. 1976)

'Jarrar employs olive trees for their significance to the Palestinian people, traditional symbology, and to emphasize their widespread destruction when the [Apartheid] wall was erected. Cherished not only for their economic importance, olive trees are draught resistant and able to thrive for thousands of years under poor conditions, symbolizing the Palestinian spirit. Half olive tree, half concrete, the sculptures reveal the impediments on growth, nature, and peace as a result of the wall. Yet as a tree can grow from beneath concrete, the hope for unity and a free Palestine is retained in these sculptures.'
(L. A. Biddle, "Khaled Jarrar: Through the Barricades" in Harper's Bazaar Art Arabia, issue 8, July-August 2013, p. 49).