Athar Jaber was born in Rome, Italy, in 1982 to Iraqi artists Afifa Aleiby and Jaber Alwan. He grew up between Rome, Florence, The Netherlands and Antwerp, Belgium.
Moving around several countries and cities helped reinforce a sense of belonging that went beyond geographical borders. This notion acted as the framework to his artistic practice, in a desire to outline a common human experience across cultures and time.
Athar Jaber’s practice mainly focusses on stone sculpture, but his artistic output also includes other expressions such as performance, video, photography and text.
Noteworthy solo exhibitions include Offerings (National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana, Cuba, 2018), and Where Pain Becomes Beauty (Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, 2015). While international group shows include the Bruges Triennale (Bruges, 2021), Future Genealogies (6th Lubumbashi Biennial, Congo, 2019), A Cool Breeze (Rudolfinum Galerie, Prague (2019), 100 Masterpieces of Modern and Contemporary Arab Art (Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, France, 2017), Jerusalem Lives (The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit, West Bank, 2017),
Athar Jaber’s work is part of various private and public collections such as SMAK Ghent, the Barjeel Art Foundation, The Palestinian Museum, the National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana, the National Museum of Lubumbashi, the FAO Headquarters in Rome and the Public art collection of the Municipality of Abu Dhabi among others.
In 2021 Athar Jaber obtained a Ph.D. in the Arts at the University of Antwerp. He currently lives and works in Abu Dhabi, UAE.