Biography
Ahmad Mallah (He/ They) 1990
Ahmad Mallah is a Palestinian artist born and raised in Syria. He holds a bachelor degree in Fine Arts from the St. Joost Academy in Breda and currently lives and works in Amsterdam. His art revolves around themes of war, diaspora, identity, gender, and the body. Mallah uses various art forms to document his personal and political experiences.
Mallah's work has travelled among plenty of groups and solo art exhibitions at the Chasse Theater in Breda, ALL INN in Het Hem in Zaandam, Landhuis Ooud Amelisweerd Museum, Art Nordic International Fair in Copenhagen, Unfair 2023, Prospects- Art Rotterdam 2024, Art Antwerp 2024 and others. Exbunker solo exhibition in Utrecht 2021, De Ploegh Solo exhibition in Amersfoort 2023, No Limits Art Castle Solo exhibition in Amsterdam 2023 and Madé van Krimpen art gallery Solo exhibition in Amsterdam 2024.
Ahmad's ongoing duo perfromative collaboration with his partner Rebecca Lillich // Krüger has been shown at Prospects-Mondrian Fonds at Art Rotterdam , Oeroel festival in Terschilling , Schunck Museum in Heerlen, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and Sismògraf Festival in Olot- Spain to name a selection.
The artist received the Mondrian fond stipendium for Emerging Artists in 2022 among other government and private funding like Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Municipality of Amersfoort, Amarte Fonds and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.
Mallah was nominated twice for the Galatea Art Prize, his paintings from the series "A New Era" were selected for the second round of The Royal Art Prize for Modern Painting 2024 and he won the Public Prize- Painting Category- Business art award 2024.
Artist Statement
“The walls have ears, Ahmad,” my mother used to say. In Syria, this phrase was a way of teaching children to remain silent, to hide their thoughts and their longing for freedom. I grew up between these listening walls, where speech was dangerous and silence was survival. That silence eventually became unbearable, and art became my language, my way of breaking through.
My practice spans painting, drawing, performance, and installation, with the body—my own and that of others—as both subject and medium. I explore themes of grief, exile, identity, and resilience, transforming silence into acts of testimony and care. Faces and figures often appear fragmented, reflecting the tension between disappearance and survival. Through ritualized gestures in performance, I create spaces of mourning and remembrance, while also opening pathways for intimacy and connection.
Displacement and diaspora are central to my work, not only as personal history but as shared human experience. I reflect on broken family lines, inherited trauma, and the resilience carried through memory and solidarity. At the same time, I search for tenderness and chosen forms of belonging, celebrating queer intimacies and community care.
Ultimately, my practice insists on voice. Where I was once silenced, I now speak through image, body, and gesture. Even though the walls may still have ears, I am silent no more.