Malak Mattar is a 16-year-old artist based in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza. She taught herself to paint at just 14, looking for a productive way to channel her fear and use her confinement during the 51-day Israeli assault on Gaza in 2014. Since then, her work has been featured in exhibitions around the world, from Jerusalem to Spain to India. She recently had a solo exhibition in Bristol, England—despite not being allowed to travel there as a Palestinian with no internationally-recognized citizenship in any country.

In addition to continuing to work with children in Gaza, Malak dreams of eventually also helping children in Lebanon discover art as a form of self-expression for communities torn apart by war, dissention or other disasters.