Palestinian young man Ahmed al-Madhoun, 31, displays an art piece he made with seashells at his house in Gaza City, on Feb. 10, 2019. A Palestinian young man from Gaza turns seashells into beautiful artifacts that adorn his home to satisfy his passion for this type of art. Using seashells he collects from Gaza beaches, 31-year-old Ahmed al-Madhoun makes various art pieces such as animals, birds and some funny characters. Al-Madhoun, who holds a college degree in radio and television engineering and works for a local telecommunication company, has been collecting multiple forms of seashells from the Gaza seashore for more than four years. The young man began the hobby of seashell art about a year and a half ago, and he already made large numbers of art pieces. (Xinhua/Stringer)
GAZA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian young man from Gaza turns seashells into beautiful artifacts that adorn his home to satisfy his passion for this type of art.
Using seashells he collects from Gaza beaches, 31-year-old Ahmed al-Madhoun makes various art pieces such as animals, birds and some funny characters.
Al-Madhoun, who holds a college degree in radio and television engineering and works for a local telecommunication company, has been collecting multiple forms of seashells from the Gaza seashore for more than four years.
The young man began the hobby of seashell art about a year and a half ago, and he already made large numbers of art pieces.
"Collecting shells and snails attracted me to transform them into artistic forms to develop my talent and passion for this art," al-Madhoun, a father of two children, told Xinhua as he used a hot melt glue gun to stick pieces together.
The first piece al-Madhoun made was a man holding a sword in a comic way. He now makes a variety of pieces such as small ships, trees and members of musical bands with their musical instruments.
A seashell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea.
Throughout history, types of seashells have been used in architectural decorations, personal adornments, musical instruments and tools. Seashells have played a part in religion and spirituality, sometimes even as ritual objects.
Large numbers of whole seashells, arranged to form patterns, have been used to decorate mirror frames, furniture and man-made grottos.
Despite their beauty, al-Madhoun does not sell his products. However, he said he will not mind selling some of his works if he gets good offers.
Al-Madhoun's work needs tranquility and attention to get an idea of how to fit existing shells and put them into shapes, and it usually takes him longer time to define the artwork than creating a piece of art.
His art forms vary; some of them represent funny characters, in addition to the forms of animals like rabbits, bears and birds.
The different types of art objects bear different ideas, and usually add a very small number of colors to keep the pieces in their natural form.
However, he complains that the types of seashells and sizes on the shore of Gaza sea are very limited, which requires more effort to search and find proper shells.
Al-Madhoun, who follows seashell artists around the world through the Internet, dreams of gaining fame to show his work worldwide.
"I'm developing my abilities to create more outstanding artistic forms to achieve this goal," he said, smiling.
