TPFF x afikra: Artist Salon with Malak Mattar
Date: September 26
Time: 6:45 PM
Location: The Gallery, main floor of Lightbox (350 King St. W)
Join us for a special afikra | عفكرة Artist Talk at TPFF featuring Palestinian artist from Gaza, Malak Mattar. Malak will be joined in conversation with Khaled Malas from afikra | عفكرة. Malak will be presenting her artistic journey and sharing with the audience her inspirations and her process in creating her many works including her most recent collection in response to the genocide.
Biography
Malak Mattar (b. 1999) is an artist from Gaza, Palestine. Self-taught, she paints expressionist faces, figures and semi-abstract designs. Malak started painting at the age of thirteen. During the 51-day Israeli military assault on Gaza in 2014 that forced her to stay inside her house, she felt a compelling need to release all her pent-up emotions. That opened up a world of self-expression for her. Mattar has produced well over 300 paintings.
Unable to leave Gaza due to the blockade, Mattar shared her colourful and bold works with the world via social media--Instagram and Facebook. On her fourteenth birthday, she was selling her work to buyers around the world. Her artwork garnered interest from galleries beyond Palestine as she has held many solo and group exhibitions in Jerusalem, France, Spain, Turkey, Costa Rica, India, England, United States.
While developing her artistic talent, Malak Mattar also excelled academically, achieving the highest GPA in the Gaza strip in 2017 in her senior year of high school and the second-highest GPA in Palestine in the year earlier. Malak recently completed an artist residency in London with An Effort, and is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins in London.
Mattar has seen three aggressions on Gaza in her childhood and has been deeply touched by these tragic events. She has authored a children’s book: Sitti's bird - a story from Gaza inspired by her life story.
Malak Mattar paints in acrylic and oil on canvas. Until recently, her works featured bright colours and patterns often depicting a female subject. The motifs of those paintings range from profound feelings to dream visions and abstract concepts. Presently, Mattar’s works depict scenes and stories coming out of the genocide - the images are painted or sketched in greytones - and capture the devastation of the ongoing bombardment and impacts for forced displacement. Her latest and most ambitious work, No Words, completed February 2024, is featured at TPFF 2024 art exhibition.