Malak Mattar was born in 1999 in the Gaza Strip and grew up under occupation and military siege. She won a scholarship to study political science at Istanbul Aydin University and another to work toward her MFA at Central Saint Martin’s, London, in 2023. Soon after she arrived in the U.K., Mattar’s world was turned upside down, causing her work to undergo a dramatic shift in style, subject matter, and palette. While artist-in-residence at An Effort in Central London, she documented the genocide in her homeland through a series of mostly monochrome drawings and paintings. She later combined these scenes into the monumental black-and-white painting No Words. Mattar is the author and illustrator of the bestselling children’s book Sitti’s Bird (2021), based on her own experiences. She has also had solo exhibitions in Palestine, Costa Rica, Great Britain, Sweden, the United States, Germany, Lebanon, Portugal, and Italy; and in defiance of strict travel restrictions, she has lectured in universities across the U.S. (updated 4/2025)