Sager Al Qatil was born in Al-Amari Refugee Camp, Ramallah, in 1959 and was raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza. In the early 1980s, he relocated to Ramallah and was able to pursue his passion under the tutelage of his friend, the artist Tayseer Barakat.
A self-taught artist and one of the first members of the League of Palestinian Artists, Al Qatil held his first exhibition at Birzeit University in 1985, followed by another solo exhibition at Al-Hakawati Theatre in Jerusalem in 1986. His unique style and influences are closely linked to his childhood memories and early experiences.
Al Qatil’s surrealist work is often described as uncanny, depicting trauma and adverse experiences, relying on fantasy and freedom from the constraints of content and form. He participated in exhibitions in Italy, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, the United States, Belgium, and Egypt. Al Qatil spent much of his life seeking to break away from the burden of dispossession and trauma experienced by his family and community. His endless quest for freedom, both in art and in life, led him to the Netherlands, where he passed away in 2004 at the age of 45.