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AYSHA E ARAR
About the Artist
Aysha E Arar (born in 1993 in Jaljulia) is a multidisciplinary Palestinian artist. A painter, illustrator, poet, video artist, and performer, she draws on Palestinian folktales and legends, reinterpreting them through the lens of the present day.
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.
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).
Aysha E Arar. Photo courtesy the artist.
IN THE COLLECTION
Aysha E Arar, “Hob wa Harb”, 2024
charcoal and pencil on canvas, fabric
213 x 168 cm
“Hob wa Harb” (حب وحرب) , which translates to "Love and War” is a powerful and poetic piece, showing the embrace of two protagonists. This motif is central to Aysha E Arar’s universe, often populated with female figures. At times, they are accompanied by a second figure, usually male. The artist invokes the notion of “mehuba” to understand the recurrence of these pairs: far more than romantic, familial, or religious love, mehuba is a profound, unconditional, and selfless form of love.
“Hob wa Harb” depicts a kind of love is pursued as an ideal, offering a possible alternative to the relationships of domination that can exist within the family and between partners,. These of course are essential notions to understanding the current geopolitical situation that Arar refers to. In relation to her work, it likely reflects her exploration of these kinds of opposing forces—personal love and cultural or political conflict.der.”
Hangama Amiri