Feature: Gazan artist draws on grape leaves to overcome psychological stress - Xinhua

A portrait of Palestinian young woman Leen Alhaj, display a grape leaf drawn with beautiful paintings, inside her house in Nuseirat refugees camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 22, 2019. (Xinhua/Stringer)

GAZA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Leen Alhaj, 21, based in Nuseirat refugees camp in the central Gaza Strip, is drawing on grape leaves and turning them into beautiful paintings.

Alhaj, a student in psychological department at the Islamic University of Gaza, imitates the nature by her art paintings, such as the sky at night adorned by stars and the moon, and the reflection of the sun at sunset on lakes, trees, waterfalls and other scenes.

"I was looking at the grape tree in my house. It inspired me to draw on its leaves," Alhaj said, noting that she was following many of the world's painters as creating strange and unique drawings.

"Grape is a Palestinian plant and it is similar to our culture and our Arab world. I want to embody this culture through my drawings," she explained why she chose grape leaves.

Alhaj is used to spend about three hours to draw her paintings, saying this help her forget all the psychological pressures that she is suffering from.

"The drawing is not just a hobby; it is also a psychological therapy for the artist, especially under difficult conditions like in the Gaza Strip, which suffers from the siege, power cuts, water pollution and lack of medicine," she said.

The residents of the Gaza Strip suffer from bad political, economic and social conditions, which have negatively affected their mental health, according to analysts.

Palestinian young woman Leen Alhaj, draws on grape leaves, turning them into beautiful paintings, inside her house in Nuseirat refugees camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 22, 2019. (Xinhua/Stringer)

Psychologists expressed concerns over the high rates of depression and mental disorders among the population of the Gaza Strip due to the deterioration of the conditions as a result of the Israeli siege imposed since 2007.

Palestinian official statistics showed a significant increase in the number of adults suffering from depression, disorder and drug abuse, amid the poor living conditions they live with their families.

According to statistics published in 2018 by the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, 22 percent of people who visited mental health centers were depressed, while 26 percent had anxiety disorders.

Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza Strip, right after the Islamic Hamas movement violently seized the strip in 2007. Since then, the people there live under hard living conditions.

Alhaj's family encourages and supports her since she started the drawing, and she is going to participate in an exhibition as soon as she can.