He was born in the coastal town of Yajur near Haifa in Palestine and later resided in Tal Al-Za'atar refugee camp, located north of Beirut in Lebanon.

Ghannam depicted scenes of village life in Yajur, in a naïve style using bright colours and a meticulousness approach to detail reminiscent of the Islamic miniaturists.

[2][1] Ghannam's choice to paint evocative village life, a far cry from his room overlooking an open sewer, and his subsistence diet of canned foods.

By transcending his harsh reality to capture vibrant rural scenes, he was able to preserve the visual memory of bountiful Palestinian countryside for a generation of children born in the refugee camp.

[4] He said in an interview, "I feel that my life stopped at the age of 17, because that is how old I was when I left, and I only live when I dream of those days.