Y. Malik Jalal was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in the Atlanta area. He received a B.A. from Oglethorpe University in 2016, He is currently an MFA candidate in Sculpture at the Yale School of Art. Jalal is a metalworker by trade. His work engages with the black family and legacy, it is concerned with a material discourse of resistance, labor, and refuge, Jalal had a solo exhibition in 2019 at the Alabama Contemporary Art Center, and at MARCH gallery in Manhattan, among others. He has also curated exhibitions at the Hi-Lo Press, and the Alabama Contemporary and recently had an essay published in Art Papers.