She went to school in Nablus, 50 miles north of Jerusalem in 2000 while the second intifada was doing on. The experience of war deeply affected her and her art. She paints women and children who have been caught up in war. For her women and children are often forgotten casualties of war. In the middle east the options for women who lose their husbands or families are limited because women still do not work outside their households in large numbers. It is changing, but the culture of the middle east still does not give women easy opportunities for finding work if they are on their own. In an interview on being a female artist Marwa says,