Fatima Abu Roomi grew up in Tamra in Western Galilee and studied art at Oranim College before working as a sculpture studio assistant. Abu Roomi presented her first solo exhibition, Personal Story at Umm al-Fahm Art Gallery in 2011. Her paintings possess a haunting beauty, filled with rich coloring and ornate textures, representing both resistance and revelation. Although she often depicts faces, they never reveal a smile. This is representative of Abu Roomi’s resistance towards the oppression of Arab women and their status in society. With her exacting aesthetics, sensitive palette, rich textures and an expert hand, Abu Roomi forces the viewer to witness sorrow and joy; bitterness and sweetness; fiction and reality.