we refuse_d

Part of Mathaf’s 15-year anniversary celebration, the exhibition we refuse_d invites artists to explore the tensions between resilience and action, probing responses to contemporary political and social challenges. By bringing together fifteen artists whose practices explore refusal, endurance, and action, the show asks what it means to persist, resist, and create under conditions of silencing, censorship, and displacement.
Developed through ongoing dialogue between artists and curators, we refuse_d is both a collective statement and a space for solidarity. It resonates with the spirit of the nineteenth-century Parisian Salon des Refusés, drawing attention to the fragile optimism and resilience that emerge in times of crisis.
Most of the works are new commissions, presented by artists who affirm the necessity of art as presence. Through the lens of refusal, their works trace paths of persistence, resistance, heritage, community, collective care, and repair. Above all, we refuse_d is an exhibition about life, persistence, and the necessity of making art.

Artists: Taysir Batniji, DAAR (Sandi Hilal & Alessandro Petti), Barış Doğrusöz, Samia Halaby, Majd Abdel Hamid, Emily Jacir, Jumana Manna, Walid Raad, Khalil Rabah, Yasmine Eid Sabbagh, Nour Shantout, Suha Shoman, Dima Srouji, Oraib Toukan, Abdul Hay Mosallam Zarara.