“Eyal works across painting, video, installation, and photography to examine the intersection of community and politics in Iraq. Challenging the Iraqi modernist tradition, his practice blends traditional techniques with contemporary research. The works are a powerful mix of precision and abstraction that confront collective trauma and cultural wounds.” – juror Suzy Halajian, Executive Director & Chief Curator, JOAN.

Ali Eyal is an artist based in Los Angeles whose practice explores memory, displacement, and collective storytelling through drawing, painting, and installation. Originally from Iraq, their work intricately weaves personal and historical narratives shaped by migration and conflict.

Eyal’s work examines the psychic and environmental toll of displacement, war, and the realities of living in a failed state. Recognized as pivotal in reshaping the narrative of our troubled times, it draws on latent ideas within a shared psychic imaginary and is rooted in the environment, particularly the essence of a small farm.