Walid El Masri was born in Syria in 1979. Prior to receiving his BA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus in 2005, he studied mosaic-making.
Syria
Cultural Narratives, commissioned by Rima Nasser, features works from established and emerging artists in the Middle
Iran
Artwork
Egypt
Biography Perry El Ashmawi was born in Bahrain in 1988 to Egyptian parents. She earned a BA in Fine Arts, specialising in Painting and Drawing, from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, in 2009.…
Iran
Artwork
Lebanon
Lebanese artist Sarah Abou Mrad was born in 1988. She is a Fine Arts
graduate of Painting from the Lebanese University. In 2010 she established the Art department at “Sainte-Anne des Sœurs de Besançon” school in Beirut where she taught arts for 10 years.
Palestine
Tayseer Barakat is one of Palestine’s preeminent artists whose practice over the past years has drawn inspiration from the ancient past, oral traditions, and cultural narratives that are intimately tied to life in Palestine.
Iran
Biography Bahareh Navabi, born in 1985 in Tehran, Iran, received her BFA in arts and MFA from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Her work combines hyper-realistic portrait drawing…
Iraq
Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1966, Mahmoud Obaidi is an IraqiCanadian globally exhibited Avant-garde artist who deals with any medium that would best represent his concept: painting, sculpture, photography, installation.
Palestine
Mohammed Joha was born in 1978 in Gaza. His paintings, though playful in style and bold in colour, offer a critique of Arab and Western media bias and their (mis)representation of Arab culture.
Lebanon
Jamil Molaeb was born in Baysour, a town in the Chouf region of Lebanon where he continues to live and work. In addition to painting, Molaeb is a sculptor and makes mosaics – a practice reflected in his canvas works.
Syria
Born in Hasaka in 1947, Barsoum Barsouma studied painting at the University of Damascus before working as a patterning expert at the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums.
Iran
Biography Mostafa Sarabi was born in 1983 in Kermanshah, Iran. He received an MA in Painting from Shahed University, Iran. Sarabi employs a simple and direct visual language to create mysterious landscapes,…
Egypt
One of Egypt’s foremost contemporary artists, Hossam Dirar works across painting, video, sound, and installation art. Born in Cairo in 1978, Dirar graduated from the faculty of Applied Arts, at Helwan University, and later went on to participate in art, photography, and graphic workshops.
Egypt
Riham Elsadany was born in 1978 in Cairo. She holds a BFA in Arts, an MFA and PhD from the Faculty of Art Education at Helwan University. She is also the founder and director of MUST Gallery at Misr University for Science & Technology Cairo, in 2007.
Iran
Biography Sara Rahmanian, born in 1993 in Tehran, Iran, earned her BFA in Painting from the University of Art Tehran in 2016 and her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University…
Tunisia
Born in Nabeul, Tunisia in 1951, Khaled Ben Slimane graduated from the Escola Massana of Barcelona in 1977 and then from the Technological Institute of Art in Tunisia in 1982. His multidisciplinary practice includes paintings on paper, canvas and wood. He is mostly known for his ceramic and bronze sculptures.
Lebanon
Zeina Badran was born in Tripoli and worked as a self-taught artist for several years before studying fine art at the Lebanese American University.
Iran
B. 1988, Bojnurd, Iran
Lebanon
Artwork
Iran
Artwork
Lebanon
Naji Chalhoub is best known for his affective, scribbled line drawings of seemingly torturous subjects whose hollowed-out eyes and sinister smiles unsettle the viewer.
Iran
B. 1990, Tehran, living in Vienna since 2008.
Egypt
Biography Hakeem AbouKila is an artist from Alexandria, Egypt. Born in 1989, he graduated from the Graphic Arts Department of Alexandria University in 2012, specialising in printmaking. His interest in various mediums…
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Syria
Born in Hama in 1952, Edward Shahda studied at the Suhail Ahdab Center in Hama and the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus, before undertaking a residency at the Anatoli Klankov Atelier in Russia
Egypt
Biography Rifky El Razzaz is an Egyptian artist born in 1958, currently based in Cairo. His work draws inspiration from Cairo’s landscape and ancient history, creating large paintings that reference Ancient Egyptian…
Iran
Biography Dariush Zandi’s love for photography began as a child in Tehran, where he spent summers helping at a local studio and received his first camera at eight. His passion for photography…
United Arab Emirates
Al Anood Al Obeidli is an Emirati visual artist from Abu Dhabi, UAE, who works primarily in collage producing works that are almost sculptural in form. Born in 1990, this young artist received her degree in Visual Arts from the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, and in 2014 participated in the Sheikha Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation Emerging Artist Fellowship Programme.
Lebanon
Artwork
Iran
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Iran
Artwork
Lebanon
Born in Beirut in 1965, Rim El Jundi studied religious art at the University of the Holy Spirit in Kaslik and fine art at the Lebanese American University, where she was awarded The Sheikh Zayed Graduation Award from the Lebanese American University in 1997.
Egypt
Born in Alexandria in 1977, Klay Mohamed Abdel Aziz Kassem graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 2000 and holds an MA (2008) and a Ph.D. (2013) in Art Studies.
Lebanon
Born in Saida in 1979, Tagreed Darghouth studied painting and sculpture at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Art.
Iran
Biography Azadeh Ghotbi was born in Iran and is currently based in London. She is a painter and photographer who studied International Relations at Brown University in the United States. Her work…
Syria
Born in Syria in 1967, Thaier Helal has been a student of notable painters such as Mahmoud Hammad during his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus.
Iran
Biography Kaveh Irani is a visual artist from Iran. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006, and his Master of…
Palestine
Raed Issa was born in Al Bureij refugee camp in Gaza in 1975. Portraying scenes of tragedy and bereavement that come with living under siege, Essa’s work is highly emotive. His portraits of young children, martyrs, and wounded bodies capture the vulnerability and tragedy of living in precarity.
United Arab Emirates
Born in Abu Dhabi, Azza Al Qubaisi studied in London where she received an MA in Cultural and Creative Industries HCT-CERT Abu Dhabi and a BA in Silversmithing, Jewellery Design, and Allied Crafts from London Guildhall. Often referred to as the Emirates’ First Jewellery Artist, Al Qubaisi produces wearable jewelry pieces and large-scale sculptural works that are influenced by the desert landscape of the United Arab Emirates and its rich ancestral past.
Iran
Biography Leily Derakhshani, born in Iran in 1961, graduated from the School of Dramatic Arts with a focus on Sculpting and then majored in Sculpting at the College of Fine Arts in…
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Born in Damascus in 1942, Simone Fattal studied philosophy in Paris and Beirut before emigrating to California in 1980, during the Lebanese Civil War.
Iraq
Born in Baghdad in 1939, Dia Azzawi started his artistic career in 1964, after graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. In 1969, Azzawi formed the New Vision group (al-Ru’yya al-Jadidah), uniting fellow artists prioritising the ideological and cultural aspects of art above any aesthetic premise.
Lebanon
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Syria
Artwork
Lebanon
Biography Nada Rizk is a Lebanese Finnish artist specialising in ceramics and bronze. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the London School of Economics and a…
Lebanon
Artwork