Bio
Born 1978. Dia Batal has completed her design studies in Beirut, and is currently based in London after having completed an MA in Design, Critical Practice at Goldsmiths College. The multidisciplinary work she produces is context specific and often enables audience to engage with it. Dia uses Arabic language and text to create artworks that echo cultural and contemporary concerns into our urban public, and private spaces. She has collaborated on outreach projects with the British museum, V&A, The Mosaic Rooms, and INIVA. Dia’s work has been on display in collective and solo exhibitions in art galleries in Beirut, Sharjah, Dubai, Manama, Amman, Paris, Liverpool and in London.
Education
2008 MA Design, Critical Practice, Goldsmiths College, University of London, London
2004 BA Interior Architecture,
2004 AA Fine Arts, Lebanese American University, Beirut
2000 BS Interior Design, Lebanese American University, Beirut
Nominations, Awards and Funding Grants
2017 Nominated for the Jameel Prize, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2016 The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) Visual Arts Grant
2015 Arts Council of England Received in support of my commission at the Mosaic Rooms Art Gallery, during the London Design Festival
2015 Nominated for the Jameel Prize, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2012 Arts Council of England Received in support of my commission at the Leighton House Museum
2012 Nominated for the Jameel Prize, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2007 Received a grant from A.M Qattan Foundation
Kindly granted as part of their visual arts program to pursue my MA in Design, Critical Practice at Goldsmiths College
Exhibitions
2017 Radical Love, The Crypt Gallery, London
2017 DO IT IN ARABIC, Darat El Funoon, Amman, Jordan
2016 Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial, Exhibition at the Sharjah Art Museum as part of the Calligraphy Biennial, Sharjah, UAE
2015 Tracing Landscapes, Solo Show, The Mosaic Rooms, London, London Design Festival
2015 The Artist Project, Metropolitan Museum, NY
2015 It’s about Time- Arab Women Artists Now Rich Mix, London
2013 Homage to Mahmoud Darwish A collaboration with artist Mona Saudi, Jacaranda Images Gallery, Amman
2012 Tower of Happiness and Other Landscapes of Occupation Collective show for designers from the Middle East, The Mosaic Rooms, London
2012 Mourning Hall / Translations Solo exhibition at the Leighton House Museum, Nour Festival, London
2012 Freedom: inspirations from Mahmoud Darwish poetry
Collective exhibition, Europia Art Gallery, Paris
2012 The Hankie Show London Printworks’ Trust, London
2011 MICA COLLECTION Mica Art Gallery, London
2011 Translations 100% DESIGN, London
2011 Translations Solo exhibition at Blue Coat Display Center, Liverpool
2011 Cart.og.ra.phy Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival, (Blue Coat Gallery, FACT, World Museum) Liverpool
2010 Whose Map Is It? International Institute of Visual Arts (iniva), London
2010 Collective Design Show, Al Bareh Art Gallery, Manama, Bahrain
2008 Prospect, Goldsmiths MA Design Final Degree Show, Truman Brewery
2006 Poetry House, Foundation’s private collection, Bahrain
2006 Rochane Art Gallery, collective design show, Beirut
2006 ART DECO Furniture & Design Show, BIEL, Beirut
2006 Contemporary Huroof, Al Bareh Art Gallery, Bahrain