Artist Info
Malak Mattar
MA Fine Art, 2023-2025
Born in 1999 in Gaza, Malak Mattar began painting as a teenager during a period of conflict in 2014. Coming from a family of cultural practitioners, she first shared and sold her work online before exhibiting internationally. Mattar studied Political Science at Istanbul Aydın University (2018–22) and was later awarded a scholarship to pursue an MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London (2023–25).
Her practice underwent a marked transformation after relocating to the UK, with a shift in palette, style, and subject matter. While artist-in-residence at An Effort in London (December 2023–February 2024), she produced a series of monochrome drawings and paintings responding to events in Gaza. These works culminated in the large-scale canvas No Words (2024), which reflects on the devastation of war and displacement.
Alongside her studio practice, Mattar is the author and illustrator of Sitti’s Bird (2021), a children’s book based on her own life experiences that has reached a wide international readership. She has given lectures at universities in the USA (2020–21) and held solo exhibitions in Palestine, Costa Rica, the UK, Sweden, the USA, Germany, Lebanon, Portugal, and Italy. In 2024, two solo exhibitions in London featured the first presentation of No Words. Her works have also been included in group shows worldwide and are held in both private and public collections.
In 2025, Mattar became the first Palestinian Artist to get a solo exhibition in Central Saint Martins' window galleries. Her show, Falasteen, depicted the horror, resilience, and hope experienced in her homeland of Gaza.
