Palestinian artists may live in different places today, but they all meet through their art as individual voices in a chorus, which resounds with the different modes growing out of the Palestinian experience. Together their work gives body to an art of resistance that never ceases to inspire hope.
(K. Boullata, Palestinian Art: From 1850 to the Present, London 2009, p. 36).

Ismail Shammout is one of Palestine's leading modernist painters, whose prominent style employs symbols of his nation’s traditions and culture that have contributed to constructing a visual narrative of Palestinian nationalism. His work continues to influence today's generation of Middle Eastern artists.

Shaped by a devastating personal history which saw the forced exodus of both himself and his family from Lydda in 1948 and relocation to the Gaza refugee camp of Khan Younis, Shammout eventually moved to neighbouring Egypt and then Rome to study art. 
Upon his return to Gaza, he established himself as a distinguished painter and activist. He later settled in Beirut with his wife, where Shammout joined the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the Director of Arts and National Culture in 1965. After the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1981, Shammout then relocated to Kuwait, where he was once again forced to leave in the wake of the Gulf War. He finally settled in Amman until his death.

Shammout’s forced nomadic lifestyle is reflected in his paintings, which often carry the entirety of his emotions - having only returned once to his homeland and discovering the geopolitical changes in place, that visit bore revelations which changed him forever. His works from the 1960s through the 1980s incorporate heart-wrenching portrayals of Palestinian women, refugees and children amidst scenes of conflict.

In the present work, keeping in mind the many years of conflict and sentiments of displacement, Shammout implies the nation’s inner strength and determination with optimism through the figures shown central to the composition. However, he keeps elements reminding the viewer of the possibility, albeit subtle, of the downfall of having such high hopes, indicated by the monochromatic tragic figures in the background. Herewith the dominant themes which emerge through his artistic practice: the road to exile, the armed struggle and lastly the nostalgic emotions of a lost homeland that played a significant role in the construction of a Palestinian national identity.