Malak Mattar
b. 1999, Palestine

Gaza born and raised artist Malak Mattar creates powerfully expressionist faces, figures, and abstract works influenced by her early life living in Gaza. She began painting at the age of thirteen during Israel's 51-day military attack on Gaza in 2014. She felt compelled to unleash the negative energy, fear, anxiety, and utter panic as she was forced to seek refuge in her home. She began painting with watercolor on paper and art supplies sourced from her school. For her, this opened up a whole new world of self-expression where Mattar produced over 300 works of art.

Malak’s work attracted the attention of galleries outside of Palestine, and she has since had solo and group exhibits in Jerusalem, France, Spain, Turkey, Costa Rica, India, England, 11 states in the United States, and the Art under Attack show at the Rayburn House Office Building, US House of Representatives in Washington DC.

Malak is also the author and illustrator of Sitti’s Bird, a children’s book based on her own life story.

Credentials

June 2021 Cover of GQ Arabia
2021 BBC Interview
International solo exhibitions
International group exhibtiions

Solo Exhibitions

2023 Garden Court Chambers, London, UK
2022 Display and auction of ‘Palestinian Family’ painting at Christie’s Auction House, london, UK
2022 The Museum of Modern Art, MU.SA Museu das Artes de Sintra, Portugal
2022 Museo della Città (City Museum), Rimini, Italy
2022 Casa Internazionale delle Donne, Rome, Italy
2022 Omar Suleiman Cultural Center, Naples, Italy
2022 Teatri di Vita, Bologna, Italy
2022 Artemisia Gallery, Padua, Italy
2022 Barchessa di Villa Concina (Dolo), Venice, Italy
2022 Barchessa di Villa Belvedere (Mirano), Venice, Italy
2021 Museum of the Palestinian People, Washington, DC, US
2021 American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
2020 'The Eyes of Women', Cultural House, Frieburg, Germany
2019 Cultural Center, New York, USA
2019 Jerusalem Fund Gallery, Washington DC, USA
2019 Palestine Museum US, Connecticut, USA
2018 Palestine Museum US, Connecticut, USA
2018 Greenbelt annual festival, London, UK
2016 Museum of Extremadura, Gaza Tierra y liberated, Spain
2016 UNED cultural Center, Red de Solidaridad, Costa Rica
2015 University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica
2015 BDS Centre, Gaza, Palestine

Group Exhibitions

2023 The Capital, NY, USA
2023 Aupuni Space gallery, Hawai’i, USA
2023 Millon, Paris, France
2022 Boughton House, Greenbelt Festival, UK
2022 Art auction organized by the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), New York City, NY, US
2021 ArtPrize USA, Grand Rapids, Michigan, US
2021 Group exhibition, P21 Gallery, London, UK
2021 Auction and group exhibition, AlBahie Auction House, Doha, Qatar
2020 Museum of Palestinian people, Washington DC, USA
2020 Palestine Museum US, Woodbridge, USA
2020 'Post Colonisation', Eindhoven, Holland
2019 Red Rock Chateau, California, USA
2019 TAC gallery, Eindhoven, Holland
2018 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California, USA
2018 Resource Center for Nonviolence, Santa Cruz, California, USA
2018 San Francisco State Univesity, San Francisco, California, USA
2018 Cultural Center of California, California, USA
2018 University of California, California, USA
2018 Palestine Expo. Annual festival, London, UK
2018 Palestinian Embassy, Sweden
2018 Inegol Kent Museum, Bursa, Turkey
2018 Guray Museum, Cappadocia, Turkey
2018 Town Hall, Paris, France
2018 Media Pablo Neruda, Malakoff, France
2018 Fontenay-sous-Bois Museum, France
2018 Group Exhibition in Support of Palestine demonstration, London, UK
2018 Green Room, London, UK
2018 OXO Design Centre, Southbank, London, UK
2017 University of North Carolina, USA
2017 American congress, Rebuilding Alliance, Washington DC, USA
2017 US Capital, Rebuilding Alliance, Washington DC, USA
2016 'GAZA51', Indian Organizations for Arts, Hyderabad, Lamakaan, Chena, Bangalor, Mumbai, Delhi, India
2016 Ambassador hotel, Jerusalem, Palestine
2015 Al Qattan Institution for Art and Culture

Commissions

2022 Commissioned mural in Bristol, UK entitled “Through a Palestinian Lens,” by Bristol Palestine Film, UK

Lectures

2021 Yale Art School, New Haven, US
2021 Art and Design Academy, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2021 Institute of Democracy and Education, Boston, US
2021 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, US
2020 Three-week speaking tour in the Northeastern US with presentations on seven college campuses (Merrimack College, Smith College, Yale University, Southern Connecticut State University, Manhattan College, Drew University, UMass Boston) and at several community events in Washington DC, New York City, and Haverhill and Ipswich, MA

Malak Mattar b. 1999, Palestine

Malak Mattar
b. 1999, Palestine