Born in Croydon, Nashashibi studied at the Glasgow School of Art, and as of 2003 is based in Glasgow. Much of her work consists of films of everyday life in urban environments.
The State of Things is a black and white film of old ladies at a Salvation Army jumble sale with a love song by the Egyptian singer Um Kolsoum on the soundtrack. The exact location of the film is unclear, and Nashashibi has said that many people, when first seeing the grainy footage, assume the women to be from some non-British culture or from an earlier time.
Dahiet a Bareed, District of the Post Office was filmed in the West Bank in an area designed by the artists grandfather. The film is of people playing football, having their hair cut and so on. Midwest and Midwest Field depict life in Omaha, Nebraska.
In 2003, Nashashibi won the Beck's Futures prize.