يصنع الشعر والجمال السلام دائماً, وحين تقرأ شيئا جميلا تجد تعايشا, انه يحطم الجدران
Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful you find coexistence; it breaks walls down. Mahmoud Darwish

May Murad was born in Gaza in 1984. She studied Fine Arts at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, and graduated in 2006 with a BA degree. In addition to teaching art, May pursues her own artwork, with a focus on developing her drawing and painting techniques. Her concepts are inspired by her personal experience, as an artist living in Gaza facing the current situation and all that it entails: socially, economically and politically.

May’s belief is that Gazan artists not only express their feelings, and document their status quo, but also persistently and bravely search to reach a solution or at least find a meaning for the unrevealed mystery that they live through. Murad has been able to exhibit her work in several exhibitions in Palestine and Arab states, and was also a member of the Roots for Art Group in Gaza from 2010 to 2015. May is currently a commissioned artist with Deveron Projects working with Huntly-based artist, Rachel Ashton. 

May and Rachel  digitally collaborated throughout 2017 to then plan and execute two 2018 Slow Marathons in the places they come from. This digitally-driven exchange ‘Walking Without Walls’ partnership explored how we can collaborate artistically and socially despite restrictive political situations. The two artists shared their respective landscapes through image and video, Skype and WhatsApp, sketches and text, through their very different geo-political settings. While Rachel negotiated her way with landowners and farmers, May dealt with the complexities of living in an occupied territory. Drawing on the plant journals of WW1 pacifist Rosa Luxemburg – created whilst imprisoned – the artists recorded and shared plants with curing powers in their different climates while looking for new paths, friendship and ways of healing along the way.