Ali Eyal
Ali Eyal (b. 1994) is an artist based in Los Angeles. He earned his undergraduate degree from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad before continuing his studies at the Home Workspace Program (HWP), an independent study program at Ashkal Alwan in Beirut, Lebanon.
Across painting, drawing, installation, performance, and video, Eyal explores narrative histories and their fleeting memories. Rooted in the personal and collective experiences of Iraqis in the early 2000s during the U.S.-led invasion, his work often features fragmented, shifting figures drawn from his family. Through intricate, layered brushstrokes, his imagery gradually unfolds to the viewer while remaining deliberately elusive.
Collections: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah.
Awards
2026
Mohn Award, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
2025
CULTURED x MZ Wallace Young Artist Prize
Education
2016 – 2017
HWP/Home Workspace, Independent Study Program, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon
2011 – 2015
Diploma, Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad
Solo Exhibitions
2026
Can I Hug All These Flowers?, Duo solo show with Ala Younis, Curated by Silvia Franceschini, Onomatopee, Eindhoven
2025
Imagine, all this happened just an hour ago, François Ghebaly, New York
Let Them Say Something, ChertLüdde, Berlin
2024
Leaving My Eyelids Behind, Visible Records, Charlottesville
A new garden from old wounds, ChertLüdde, Berlin (dual solo show with David Horvitz)
Retrieving an Obscured Present/Presence, Bellyman, Los Angeles
From the Creases of my Eyelid, The Quebec City Biennial, Quebec
2022
In the Head’s Sunrise, Brief Histories, New York
In the Head’s Dusk, Saw Center, Ottawa
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
82nd Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York
ARCO2045, Curated by Magali Arriola and José Luis Blondet
2025
Made in L.A. 2025, Curated by Essence Harden and Paulina Pobocha, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Suni’a Bisihrika, Curator Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Dream City Festival, Tunis
18th Istanbul Biennial: The Three-Legged Cat, Curated by Christine Tohmé, Istanbul
14th Mercosul Biennial: Estalo (Snap), Porto Alegre, Brazil
2024
Undoing Images I, Akademie der künste, Cologne
Display, Ehrlich Steinberg, Los Angeles
Babel, Sara’s Dukunsthalle, Ney York
Hope Dies Last, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto
The David Hammons, Frieze show, curated by Suzy Halajian, Los Angeles
Crystal Clear, Bayt Al Mamzar, Dubai
2023
4.5 Billion Years, Brief Histories, New York
Surviving the Long Wars, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
Archival Assembly #2 at the Betonhalle: How to know what’s really happening, Curated by Ala Youins and Maha Maamoun, Silent green, Berlin
22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil: Memory is an Editing Station
15th Sharjah Biennale: Thinking Historically in the Present, Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Sharjah
2022
The 58th Carnegie International: Is it Morning for You Yet?, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Documenta 15 – Sada [regroup], Kassel
Crossings: Itineraries of Encounter, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto
How to maneuver: Shape-shifting texts and other publishing tactics, isdaT — Institute of arts and design of Toulouse. Curated by Ala Youins and Maha Maamoun, Toulouse
2021
This Is Not Lebanon, Curated by Matthias Lilienthal, Rabih Mroué, Christine Thomé , Anna Wagner, Jaan Bossier, Uwe Dierksen, Christian Hommel, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt
Hamds, Curated by MADHUSREE DUTTA, ALA YOUNIS, The Akademie der Künste, Cologne
2020
Online screening. Aashra, Ashkal Alwan. Curated by Ashkal Alwan | Beirut
Online exhibition. Triennale Tres Pesos, Mexico City
Online exhibition. Viral Self-Portraits, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova | +MSUM, Slovenia, LJU
How to reappear: Through the quivering leaves of independent publishing, MMAG Foundation, Amman
2019
How to maneuver: Shape-shifting texts and other publishing tactics, Curated by Kayfa ta, Ala Youins and Maha Maamoun, Warehouse 421, Abut Dhabi
Screening, Kino, Bermondsey as part of VITRINE x Kino Screenings, London
Screening, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin video library at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
The 8th edition of Home Works: A Forum on Cultural Practices, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut
The 9th Cairo Video festival, Medrar, Cairo
How to reappear · Through the quivering leafs of independent publishing, Curated by Maha Maamoun and Ala Younis. Bierut Art Center, Beirut
Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011, curated by Peter Eleey and Ruba Katrib, MoMA PS1, New York
Screening, theme Less, time less, discipline less, form less. The James Black Gallery, Mexico city
Collective exhibition, Beirut Art Center. touché! (gestures, movement, action), Beirut
Screening, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin video library
Screening, I am BP, King of Exploitation, King of Injustice, P21 Gallery, London
Screening, Sharjah Film Platform, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah
2018
Screening, Immaterial Collection Forum IV: States of Being, Beirut Art Center, Beirut
2017
Audio piece, Collective Task, Baghdad, Baghdad, IQ
Open Studio, HWP 2016-17, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, LB
2015
TARKIB Installation Exhibition, Baghdad, IQ
Group Show, 1010Hall The ARt House, Nicosia
Build Peace conference, Nicosia
6th FIVAC, International Video Art Festival, Camaguey
2013
Screening, Cairo Video Festival, Medrar, Cairo
Al-Mutanabbi Street exhibition, Baghdad
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. US
Screening, Iraqi Independent Film Center, Baghdad
2011
Nakhla Gallery, Baghdad
Bibliography
2026
“Ala Younis, Ali Eyal: Can I Hug All These Flowers?” by Onomatopee, e-flux, 12 February 2026, online.
“Ali Eyal Wins Hammer Museum’s $100,000 Mohn Award” by Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews, 10 February 2026, online.
“Must-See: Ali Eyal Paints the Aftermath of War” by Andrew Woolbright, Frieze, 9 January 2026, online.
2025
“Artists Have Long Struggled to Express the Legacy of War. Ali Eyal Offers a New Approach.” Cultured Magazine, 2 December 2025, online
“Ali Eyal: Tangled Memories” by Andrew Berardini, ArtForum, September 2025, p. 141
Catalog: The Three-legged Cat: 18th Istanbul Biennial, forward by Kevser Güler, introduction by Christine Tohmé, Published by the Istanbul Biennial and the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts
“Hammer Museum Unveils Artists for Made in L.A. 2025: A Vivid Cross-Section of the City’s Creative Pulse” on Artefuse, 29 December 2025, online
2024
“Phantom Figurations and the Mirage of Google Maps in Iraq” by Gwyneth Giller, Elephant, 26 January 2024, online
“In Your Head: The Art of Ali Eyal” by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Mousse Magazine, 17 December 2024, online
“Floating Narratives: An Interview with Ali Eyal” by Noushin Afzali, Berlin Art Link, 29 November 2024, online
2023
“The 58th Carnegie International Is an Assemblage of Revolutionary Strategies” by Margareta Kross, Frieze, Issue 233, 4 January 2025, print and online
“Ali Eyal’s ‘In the Head’s Sunrise’” by Dina Ramadan, e-flux Criticism, 20 January 2023, online
“UNVANQUISHED: Amin Alsaden on Iraq’s art under two decades of occupation” by Amin Alsaden, ArtForum, Volume 1, No. 7, March 2023
“Precious Territory: Brief Histories Group Show” by Osman Can Yerebakan, canvas, 28 June 2023
“Witness and Memories: A Refusal to Forget” by Manar Abo Touk, Vie des arts, 12 July 2023, online
“To Accelerate Time: Reflections on Art-Making in Post-invasion Iraq” by Sajjad Abbas, Ali Eyal, Sarah Munaf, Rijin Sahakian, and Bassim Al Shaker, e-flux Notes, 20 September 2023
2022
“Collective Burdens: Making Room for ‘Others’ at Documenta Fifteen” by Amin Alsaden, Texte zur Kunst, 17 October 2022, online
“Ali Eyal: Land of Shadows Fertilized with Unbridled Memories” by Amin Alsaden, Art Asia Pacific, 1 November 2022, online
“What’s next” by Sadia Shirazi, e-flux Criticism, 22 December 2022, online
“Environment at War: Capturing Global Conflict in Arab Geographies” by Amin Alsaden, Art Journal, Volume 81, Issue 4, 28 December 2022, pp. 74-87
2021
“Das Festival ‘This Is Not Lebanon‘: Eine Brücke nach Beirut“ by Patrick Wildermann, Tagesspiegel, 24 August 2021, online
“Ali Eyal, l’artiste qui peint les murs de l’assassin de son père“ by Danny Mallat, L’Orient-Le Jour, 26 October 2021, online
2020
“Recolonize This Place“ by Mostafa Heddaya and Rijin Sahakian, e-flux Journal, Issue 107, March 2020
2019
“These Artists Refuse to Forget the Wars in Iraq” by Jason Farago and Tim Arango, The New York Times, 14 November 2019