Shawa was born in Gaza City in 1946. She graduated from the Cairo Fine Arts School and the Rome Fine Arts Academy. She now lives in London, before moving there, she worked as an art instructor, and designed a number of books. She has held a number of personal exhibits in Palestine, Beirut, Kuwait in Amman, and has participated in a number of group exhibits in Amman, London, Paris, and at the Washington Museum of Women in the Arts in 1994. Her work can be found in private and public collections around the world such as the British Museum's 20th Century Collection, and the National Art Galleries of Jordan and Malaysia. She participated in the French Palestinian spring exhibit at the Paris Institut du Monde Arabe.