{"id":15240,"date":"2026-05-15T15:13:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T13:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macsmto.fr\/?post_type=artist&p=15240"},"modified":"2026-05-26T22:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:28:11","slug":"faissal-el-malak","status":"publish","type":"artist","link":"https:\/\/www.macsmto.fr\/en\/artistes\/faissal-el-malak\/","title":{"rendered":"Faissal El-Malak"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n Home<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Faissal El-Malak<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/span>\n\t\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\nFaissal El-Malak, born in Windsor (UK) in 1988, is a Palestinian artist, healer and vocalist currently based in London. He was brought up between Montreal, Canada and Doha, Qatar.<\/p>\n

Prior to moving back to the Gulf to launch his fashion brand in 2014 in Dubai, he trained as a fashion designer in Paris\u2019 Atelier Chardon Savard. Through his brand El-Malak explored and reinterpreted crafts from the SWANA region through collaborations with artisans and designers, using the body and clothing as a canvas to express idea of belonging and identity. In 2017 El-Malak was announced winner of the Vogue Arabia DDFC Fashion Prize in the women\u2019s ready-to-wear category with his Spring-Summer 2018 collection. In September 2018 El-Malak was part of thirteen Gulf based designers attending a workshop at the Victoria and Albert museum in London where he presented his work to the public of the London Design Festival. This experience has inspired his work \u201cHallowed Threads\u201d presented as part of Design Ras Al Khor at Dubai Design Week 2018. A full look from the spring summer 2018 collection was acquired in 2019 to be part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert museum in London in their Middle East department- this was the first acquisition of a Palestinian fashion designer made by the museum.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019 El-Malak participated in the Lisbon Architecture Triennale where he showed a textile work part of the “Pattern As Politics” exhibition curated by Sam Jacobs that explored the theme of ornament. He has also exhibited at Amman Design Week in Jordan where he has shown a multidisciplinary installation of cement tiles, ceramic vases and a tapestry all reinterpreting traditional Palestinian embroidery motifs. This work inspired his winning design “Nahel” -as a duo with Emirati designer Alia Bin Omair- for the Sabeel open call by Art Jameel and Expo 2020 Dubai. Thirty-seven drinking fountains that El-Malak and Bin Omair designed were installed across the exhibition grounds and are now part of the project\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

Motivated by a growing interest in art and learning, in 2019 El-Malak was selected to be part of the Salama Bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF) in partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Throughout the ten months programme he challenged his creativity and healing practice which culminated in a multidisciplinary installation \u201cScene for Croissant\u201d that was shown at Warehouse 421 Abu Dhabi in November 2020 exploring themes of memory and embodiment.<\/p>\n

In June 2021, El-Malak was commissioned by the Emma Scully Gallery in New York a work for the “Cast Iron” show. The work “Touqous” was inspired by the soap towers of Nablus and the use of talismans in Palestine.<\/p>\n

In September 2023, El-Malak was awarded the first prize of the Emirati Futurism competition in the music and performing arts category by the Dubai Future Foundation and Dubai Culture for his film \u201cEmbroidery for a Long Song\u201d directed by Amirah Tajdin. The film was commissioned by Mixcloud and W Hotels in 2018 through El-Malak’s curation of the Dubai edition of their Future Rising series of events. It featured an Omani all woman traditional music troupe navigating the futuristic landscape of the W Hotel Dubai.<\/p>\n

Through the support of the Tashkeel scholarship fund El-Malak completed an MFA in fine art from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2023 where his degree show was awarded the Warden Prize. During his MFA he continued his work on healing and identity using painting, tufting, video, sculpture and installation as mediums. A work from the show was acquired and is permanently displayed as part of the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation in Dhaka.<\/p>\n

As a vocalist El-Malak has performed as part of \u201cLive from Room 9\u201d in 2023 at Goldsmiths and at the Horse Hospital in London. In February 2024 he performed as part of the New Contemporary show at Camden Art Center with artist Harmeet Rahal revisiting classics from Arabic and Indian music. In April 2024, he performed with “Live from Room 9” part of the “Mixed Feelings” exhibition at Alice Black Gallery in London.<\/p>\n

In May 2024, El-Malak has revealed his first commission for Hermes: an installation entitled “When the Guards Crosses the Street at Dusk” for the opening of their new store in Bahrain. Shortly followed by another installation “Express Celestial Postal Service” for the Abu Dhabi store. This collaboration with Hermes is ongoing with a several new concepts installed in June and October 2025. These collaborations highlight the playfulness and joyful nature of El-Malak’s work.<\/p>\n

His film “The Lizard of my Dream” exploring a surrealist expansion on a dream through Palestinian folklore was shown as part of the Frame Rush screen dance film festival at the Place in London in September 2024. The film was also shown as part of the latest edition of the Reel Palestine film Festival in Dubai in January 2025.<\/p>\n

El-Malak has shown a body of work part of the “Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial” exhibition at the NYU Abu Dhabi Gallery till April 2024. He is amongst twenty-one artists and collectives in this survey of art from the Gulf from the past five years. El-Malak has also showed work part of that same series as part of “Neither Here – Nor Elsewhere” at the Third Line gallery in Dubai in December 2024.<\/p>\n

El-Malak is part of “The Lost Paintings” exhibition bringing together 53 Palestinian artists that is touring starting from Montreal in September 2025, followed by Boston in October 2025 and several other locations in the UK where he is presenting a new body of work.<\/p>\n

El-Malak will present a new multi-disciplinary commission part of the Arab Design Now exhibition at the second edition of Doha Design Biennial in April 2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Image: Portrait of Faissal El-Malak. \u00a9Carmen Gray<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n

Exposed at MACS MTO<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n