Nabila Abdul Fattah Artist, activist, debater and author. Based in Göteborg.

I was born in Lebanon and raised in Sundsvall and Göteborg. I have also lived in Skärholmen, Sätra, Bredäng and Vårberg. Today, Göteborg has been home for many years.

I am a trained social pedagogue and have worked as a youth leader in Hammarkullen in Göteborg and Alby in Botkyrka. My artistic practice is grounded in democracy and the suburb.

I began making public work with a mural during Hammarkullen Urban Art in 2017, a tribute to the area I call home. Since then I have worked across drawing, documentary photography, painting, installation and text.

My work has been shown in exhibitions including “Among Our Heroes There Are No White Men” at Mångkulturellt centrum, Ortens Konstfestival in Göteborg, Havet at Konstfack, and Liljevalchs Spring Salon 2024. Together with Mohammed Ryback I ran the art project “Trasten vårt kvarter” in Gislaved.

My most recent work is a trilogy about life in the Swedish suburb. The first chapter, GRABBAR, opened at SKHLM Konsthall in Skärholmen in 2025 and sets out to create space for an alternative narrative about young, racialized men. The second chapter, BANATS, opened at Blå Stället in Göteborg on 8 March 2026 and focuses on the stories and experiences of young suburban women. For Banats I was awarded a scholarship from the Anders Hultman Foundation.

Before the art there was music. I rapped in the hip-hop group Wordsilah and helped run the movement Alby inte till Salu. I wrote the book All makt åt folket and many debate articles.

“I am not an artist. An artist to me is a person who does not exist in my circle. An artist is a person who can move through artists’ rooms.”

“Others call me an activist. I am just an ordinary citizen doing what I should. It is in the collective that things get solved. You come together and organize.”