Alya Hatta was born in Malaysia. She is an interdisciplinary artist based between London and Kuala Lumpur. She graduated with her BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths at the University of London before finding herself in the MA Painting Course at Royal College of Art. She has exhibited internationally in London, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Tübingen, amongst others, and had her third solo show in Milan in February of 2022. Hatta is a member of the ‘FloorFive’ collective, who are currently part of a year-long residency at Goldsmiths CCA. In her works, she draws from personal experiences and memories, taking inspiration from her diverse, multicultural upbringing; before settling in Malaysia, she moved between Indonesia, London, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia.
Despite her work primarily revolving around the experiences of a young Southeast Asian woman who has grown up and lives through diaspora, she herself has said: “I have a lot to say, and I wouldn’t want to create fences around the meaning of the work. [...] Something like this is so broad sensually and experientially that words couldn’t do it justice.”