SWANA woman, Alissar Seyla’s delicate and luminous drawings and paintings depict intimate, tender, and disturbing imagery that bring together nature, trauma, connection and elements of cultural fantasy. She abandoned a fine arts degree in Beirut to move to Naarm in 2004 and has since worked sporadically in illustration, painted for private commissions, and earned a PhD in social science. Up until 2016, Alissar divided her time between Naarm, Beirut and Cairo, and is influenced by the abundance and isolation of living in diaspora. She commenced a dedicated art practice during the Covid lockdowns in 2020 and has recently shown work in Austria, Lebanon and Naarm.