A Lovesong for Whitechapel, 2026
Commissioned by UP Projects and London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Whitechapel Gallery, London
Launch: Thursday 1st October 2026, 6-8pm
Book tickets via link here
Artwork installed October 2026- October 2027
Over the course of a year, I led a series of intergenerational workshops with members of the local community that make up Whitechapel, involving Year 12 students from a predominantly Bengali Swanlea School and elderly members of the Bow Geezers- a local Cockney heritage group—facilitating conversations that wove together personal and communal memories of Whitechapel.
In these sessions, participants shared nostalgic reflections, recounting stories of their lives in Whitechapel past and present and how the landscape of their home has evolved. A reverence for elders—revelations and surprising commonalities across generations and cultures surface.
With composer Tom Carradine, I translated those memories into a buoyant, playful song infused with the spirit of traditional Cockney tunes that serves as a shared history of a beloved piece of East London, titled A Lovesong For Whitechapel.
The chorus of the song will be projected for a year above the market. The full song is available to be played in the Common Rooms of the Whitechapel Gallery.
East Mend, Textile Banner, 2026
Made In The East End artist commission
Oxford House, London
Aug - Dec 2026
Made in The East End emerged from a six-week collaboration with participants rooted in East London, exploring the histories, identities and solidarities that shape the area. Conversations around working-class organising, the Cable Street riots and resistance to the far right informed both the imagery and collective making of the banner. Its symbols become a tribute to the often unseen labour of textile workers and communities.
Doha Design Biennale 2026
Qatar Museum, Qatar
Uprooted, 2026, 220cm x 160cm, Wool, Hessian.
Uprooted examines the systematic destruction of Palestinian flora under الاحتلال as a form of environmental colonialism, framing the land as both witness and victim of settler violence. Through needle punching and layered textiles, the work depicts olive trees, Jaffa oranges, za‘atar, figs, cactus, and the purple iris as living symbols of memory, resistance, and belonging. By rendering these plants in yarn and fibre, Uprooted transforms softness into an act of defiance, positioning ecological justice as inseparable from political liberation and the enduring roots of identity.
Art Dubai Bawwaba, 2026
Preview: 15 April 2026, Dubai, UAE.
Dwelling on the Past, 2021, large scale public installation.
Dwelling On The Past is a large scale public artwork which reimagines the Bedouin Al-Sadu tent using black-and-white plastic, blending traditional weaving with modern petroleum-era materials. Inside, three embroidered dresses honour Bedouin women's roles as creators and leaders. This installation reclaims heritage, subverts material norms, and reflects shifting cultural identities through craft, memory, and symbolic spatial design.
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
I am very proud to announce that the Safe Space series has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, for its permanent collection.
To view the work, click on the request link here
BOOK PUBLICATION
Highly Strung
2022
Upcoming launch of 365 limited edition copies in large format of my latest large scale installation Highly Strung. For more information or to reserve your copy, please contact a member of the Athr team.
Highly Strung is a durational body of work, which explores notions of motherhood, domesticity, and the invisibility of a woman’s labour. Produced over 365 days, Haidar made a record of an act of invisible labour she accomplished, one for every day of the year.
These mundane acts are the sum of her every day, as mother, wife, caregiver, and woman.
Each act has been carefully embroidered onto an item found within the home and presented, literally, Highly Strung on washing lines.
Haidar repositions the domestic space as a political site exploring its relationship to artistic work, repetition, care work, paid/unpaid, cleaning, parenting, and the working body.