Alya Hatta (b.1999, Malaysia) is an interdisciplinary artist based between London and Kuala Lumpur. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) at Goldsmiths, University of London, London (2021) and a Masters of Arts (Painting) at Royal College of Art, London (2023). Hatta is part of the London-based Southeast Asian artist collective ‘Unamed Collective’.

Drawing on personal experiences and memories, Hatta’s work explores her Southeast Asian identity, and portrays the colourful intimacies of the diasporic human condition. She takes inspiration from the communities of both her South-London and Kuala Lumpur residences, as well as Southeast Asian mythology, to create alternate realities in an attempt to find new spaces in which she can call home. Community and ecology are key influences in her works. 

The materials within her work are sourced locally in Southeast London – tires and chains from the junk at Bob’s bike, a random box of fabric trimmings from Aunty on East Street Market – these things curated by the community feed themselves into her work and physically embody the close relationships she has made with these wonderful individuals. Fabrics that carry her personal histories are sewn into her works in the form of used clothes. Through new travels and the mundane, they weave their stories into new worlds created in Hatta’s works.