Laila Shawa used paint, photography, silkscreen, and sculpture to create vibrant works that are inspired by the lives of Palestinians living in Gaza, where she was born. Her penetrating series Disposable Bodies—in which brightly painted mannequin torsos are bedecked with large, colorful rhinestones, black lace or peacock feathers, and weapons or ammunition—references but is not meant to glorify violence. Rather, combining sensuality and the aura of threat, it vividly defines the value (lessness) of women’s lives in a patriarchal society that demands purity and conformity. In a more universal sense, the sculpture dramatically captures the notion of male dominance over female sexual agency. Shawa studied Political Science and Sociology at the American University in Cairo, but pivoted to study art at the School of Art Leonardo Da Vinci in Cairo and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in Italy. She subsequently lived and worked in the United Kingdom.