Aysha E Arar

Aysha E Arar is a Palestinian artist born in 1993. She received her BFA with honors from the HaMidrasha Faculty of Arts - Beit Berl College in 2018.

Her practice spans multiple disciplines, including painting, video, performance, and poetry. Arar develops a form of resistance through art, using fiction and poetry to engage with the conditions of Palestinian existence, its history and its future. Through spontaneous forms, she creates a body of work that is both deeply inhabited and political. As a painter, she works on paper, canvas, and directly on walls, moving fluidly between abstraction and figuration, populating her compositions with creatures, animals, and beings inspired by Palestinian legends.

–

The artist currently has a solo exhibition at Centre d’art contemporain de la Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel until July 2026. Upcoming solo exhibitions include presentations at the RAK Art Foundation, Bahrain and ARTFACTORY, Istanbul. Previous solo exhibitions include CC Strombeek, Grimbergen (2025); Château de Rochechouart – Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne (2025), Sans titre, Paris (2024), Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Paris & Brussels (2024 & 2023), ThisWeekendRoom, Seoul (2024), Beit HaGefen, Haifa (2023), Hayarkon 19, Tel Aviv (2022), and Givat Haviva Art Gallery (2021).

Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at Fondazione Made in Cloister, Naples (until June 2026); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris (2025); Kunsthaus Baselland, Münchenstein (2024); MO.CO. Panacée, Montpellier (2024); Cooper Cole, Toronto (2024); Sans titre, Paris (2024, 2022 & 2021); TAGELDIMDE / MIDDELGATE, Geel (2023); Edmond de Rothschild Center, Tel Aviv (2022); Umm al-Fahm Gallery (2022); Alfred Institute for Art and Culture, Tel Aviv (2021); Kultur Forum Dresden e.V., Dresden (2021); Albertinum Museum, Dresden (2021); Artura Gallery, Kfar Monash (2021); Balkont Gallery, Tel Aviv (2019); Ethiopian Embassy, Tel Aviv (2017); Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv (2017); Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Tel Aviv (2016); Excellence Project of the Jewish Festival, Krakow (2016).

Aysha E Arar’s works are featured in the collections of significant institutions and museums, including Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin (Paris, France); SMAK – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (Ghent, Belgium); Frac-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Limoges, France); Frac Corsica (Corte, Corsica) and Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Château de Rochechouart (Rochechouart, France).

exhibition view, Yet we insist that life is full of happy chance, 2026, Fondazione Made in Cloister, Naples

exhibition view, Al Farisa, 2026, Centre d’art contemporain de la Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel

Free love brings Palestine back to life (detail), 2025, charcoal and oil pastel on fabric, 350 x 1400 cm, unique

exhibition view, Al Farisa, 2026, Centre d’art contemporain de la Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel

"What warms heart — one that knows neither hatred nor spite. Is this a heart of a man, or the heart of a bird?" asked the Bride of Palestine. He answered, "It is the heart of a free man." (detail), 2025 charcoal and oil pastel on fabric, 364 x 1140 cm, unique

One day he asked me: Who are you? Are you the darkness of the night, or the light that touches my face in the morning? I said: I am your freedom. Can you feel me, dear fighter? Can you feel me, free bird?, 2026, paint, charcoal, marker and pastel on fabric, 630 x 185 cm, unique

Husan Al-Amal (The Horse of Hope / حِصَان الأَمَل), 2025, video, 3 min 57, exhibition view, Al Farisa, 2026, Centre d’art contemporain de la Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel

Husan Al-Amal (The Horse of Hope / حِصَان الأَمَل), 2026, performance view, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Grimbergen

exhibition view, Al Farisa, 2025, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Grimbergen

"What a warm heart — one that knows neither hatred nor spite. Is this the heart of a man, or the heart of a bird?" asked the Bride of Palestine. He answered, "It is the heart of a free man." (detail), 2025, charcoal and oil pastel on fabric, 350 x 860 cm, unique

exhibition view, Al Farisa, 2025, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Grimbergen

My lover and I are two Palestinian moons, 2025, spray paint on fabric, 170 x 500 cm, unique

Husan Al-Amal (The Horse of Hope / حِصَان الأَمَل) (video stills), 2025, video, 3 min 57

exhibition view, The princess from the land of olive trees, 2025, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Château de Rochechouart

"Before you knock at my door, ask the birds about me. They will tell you that the road to me is long and perhaps impossible. Do you really think you are ready to start this adventure, little adventurous man?" said the Palestinian princess, 2025, pastel and charcoal on fabric, 1800 cm (long), unique

exhibition view, The princess from the land of olive trees, 2025, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Château de Rochechouart

Palestinian heart and soul, 2025, charcoal, watercolor and pastel on canvas, 98.5 x 123 cm, unique

exhibition view, The princess from the land of olive trees, 2025, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Château de Rochechouart

The free people, 2024, acrylic and pencil on fabric, 160 x 100 cm, unique

exhibition view, The princess from the land of olive trees, 2025, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Château de Rochechouart

Homemade donkey, homemade oranges and homemade cages, what else?, 2023, charcoal, ballpoint pen, and pastel on Kafan, 200 x 230 cm, unique

Hob wa harb, 2024, charcoal and pencil on canvas, fabric, 213 x 168 cm, unique

performance view, 2025, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Château de Rochechouart

exhibition view, Chère Melpomène, 2025, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris

exhibition view, In Between, 2024, Kunsthaus Baselland

exhibition view, Being Mediterranean, 2024, MO.CO. Panacée, Montpellier

It was just a cup of coffee, 2018, spray paint on fabric, 173 x 523 cm, unique

exhibition view, Dear red bird, look at me in the eyes, 2024, Sans titre, Paris

Give us our childhood, 2024, acrylic on tablecloth, 137 x 153 cm, unique

Marhaba farasha (Hello butterfly), 2024, song and lyrics composed by Aysha E Arar, music by Sulafa Elyas & Ana Khalife, performance at Sans titre, Paris. © Myriam Cohenca

Can sadness be written in one word?, 2024, acrylic on tablecloth, 146 x 137 cm, unique

Moqatila, 2024, acrylic on canvas, fabric, 196 x 127 cm, unique

exhibition view, Dear red bird, look at me in the eyes, 2024, Sans titre, Paris

exhibition view, There was love, there was death and there was you, 2024, Dvir Gallery, Paris

It was difficult to remain human despite all this, but I survived, 2023, charcoal, ballpoint pen, and pastel on Kafan, 258 x 230 cm, unique

exhibition view, There was love, there was death and there was you, 2024, Dvir Gallery, Paris

Guernica, 2023, acrylic on dress, 205 x 138 cm, unique

exhibition view, Art-O-Rama 2023, Marseille with Sans titre

I didn’t invite you to come, but you are here, entering my castle without permission, I did not hear you knocking the door but hearing your heart beat was so clear. Welcome to my castle but be careful. Do you think you are brave enough to fight this battle of love? (detail), 2023, spray, pastel and charcoal on fabric, 180 x 1500 cm, unique