Samah Hijawi (1976) is a multimedia artist based in Brussels. Her projects are research based, and deeply rooted in historical narrative. From ancient history she takes inspiration for re-staging and representing contemporary life beyond the limited, polarized discourses that direct our lives today. Her research lies at the intersection between ancient mythology and farming, astrology and the spiritual traditions that connect us with larger cosmologies beyond earth.
Her latest visual works 'Kinships and Cosmologies' explore a visual interpretation of ancient cosmologies between plants and the cosmos. Meanwhile, performance 'The Moon in Your Mouth' connects the plants that we eat with the planets in our universe. In an earlier performance project 'Kitchen. Table.', she focused on food and migration, and the body as a site of food memory. Her on-going project 'Aesthetics of the Political' explores how artists translate their political position in the aesthetic choices in their artwork.
Previously, she collaborated with Ola El-Khalidi and Diala Khasawneh in directing Makan Art Space (2003-2016), an independent space for contemporary art in Amman. And together with Shuruq Harb and Toleen Touq she co-curated the platform The River has Two Banks (2012-2017), initiated to address the distances and proximities between Jordan and Palestine.
Her works have been shown in Bukhara Bienniel 2025, KANAL Centre Pompidou Brussels, Vooruit Gent, AM Qattan Foundation Palestine, The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Brussels, Museum M Leuven, The Hayward Gallery in London, BOZAR and Beursschouwburg in Brussels, Bureau Europa- Maastricht, MoMa and Apex Art - New York; Darat al Funun in Jordan, among others.