The Artist:

A new painting exhibit by one of the best and boldest colorists in Palestine, the show marks a new turn in her work, experimenting with new techniques, media and shapes. The exhibit includes thirty paintings done by the artist in 2000.

One of the most striking things about Tamari's exhibit is her use of the traditional theme, the olive tree, in a new, creative way. The multi- colored ceramic olive trees in the exhibit are pastel colored and miniature. The reason, she says is: " I wanted a warmer, more tender, personal way to look at the trees". This isn't the artist's first time to use olive trees as a theme in her work, Tamari says that she is fascinated by the strong shriveled old roots of the tree. In her earlier works, the olive trees are larger, and the colors more realistic. "I started collecting newspaper clippings of olive trees being uprooted by the occupation since the beginning of the first Intifada" she says, "It hurt me to see this destruction happening to such an important symbol…"

The masks, or as Tamari prefers calling them, "faces" made of ceramic, with a background of pictures of the sea of Jaffa taken by the artist herself, are another addition to the exhibit. The masks are "probably faces of ancestors from Jaffa", although she includes; "they are classical and have no resemblance to anybody in particular". "They seem to come out of the sea and with their parted lips tell the story of old Jaffa" (before the occupation).
These abstract turquoise-blue Icons look almost like human busts, they are made with the texture of the landscape in mind, Tamari says, "the curves are very feminine, like the soft hills of Palestine."