Desert – Ramallah. From the journey to Palestine

Desert – Ramallah. From the Journey to Palestine shows the landscape surrounding Ramallah, the Palestinian town northwest of Jerusalem in the central West Bank — an elevated plateau of bare rock and scrubby vegetation that in 1901 was a small Arab Christian village. The landscape around Ramallah is distinctive — rocky, rolling terrain with sparse Mediterranean vegetation, quite different from the sand desert of the Negev or the lush Jordan valley. Ciągliński's study captures the specific character of this Judean hill country.

The rocky Palestinian hillscape is rendered in warm ochres and grey-browns, with sparse vegetation adding touches of muted green. The sky is clear and intense. Ciągliński handles the stony terrain with confident, direct strokes that capture its particular dryness and texture.