Cultural Narratives, commissioned by Rima Nasser, features works from established and emerging artists in the Middle
East, North Africa, and the Gulf. The exhibition highlights regional artistic achievements and fosters appreciation and
understanding of its cultures. Showcased in traveling exhibitions, it brings the region’s vibrant art scene to global audiences.
cultural narratives leily derakhshani artwork

Leily Derakhshani

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…

Boutros Al-Maari

Born in Damascus in 1968, Boutros Al-Maari studied printmaking in Syria and received a Doctorate in Social Anthropology from EHESS in Paris, France. Both cultural contexts are reflected in his distinctive paintings.

Sinan Hussein

Born in 1977 in Iraq, Sinan Hussein graduated from the University of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He is a member of the Iraqi Fine Arts Artist Society and of the Union of Iraqi Artists. Sinan Hussein’s whimsical characters seem weightless in an environment reminiscent of Limbo.

Ghassan Zard

Born in Lebanon in 1954, Ghassan Zard lives and works in Beirut. Influenced by lyrical abstraction, Zard began his artistic career as a painter but later focused predominantly on sculptural works rendered in polished wood, aluminium and raw steel.

Jamil Molaeb

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.

Ghassan Nana

Born in Homs in 1953, Ghassan Nana studied at the Fine Arts Center in Homs and the University of Damascus. His luminous, delicate oil paintings are executed in a classical impressionist style, capturing soothing pastoral scenes that possess a haunting and ethereal quality.

cultural narratives masoumeh mozafari artwork

Masoumeh Mozafari

Biography Masoumeh Mozafari is an Iranian artist born in 1958 in Tehran, Iran. She holds a Master of Arts from Azad University, Tehran, and a Bachelor of Arts in Painting from Tehran…

Nihad Al Turk

Born in Aleppo in 1972, self-taught artist Nihad Al Turk’s work focuses on the existential crisis of the individual caught up in power struggles between good and evil. Based in Beirut, Al Turk situates his work against a backdrop of literature and philosophy, painting a recurrent cast of mythical demons, outcasts, and antiheroes.

Nadim Karam

Nadim Karam is a multidisciplinary artist, whose work incorporates painting, drawing, and sculpture through a distinct artistic style that draws from Oriental and Japanese theories of space.

cultural narratives raana dehghan artwork

Raana Dehghan

Biography Raana Dehghan, born in 1986 in Tehran, Iran, is a sculptor and painter living and working in Tehran. She earned her BA in Painting from Azad University of Tehran in 2013.…

cultural narratives sara rahmanian artwork

Sara Rahmanian

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…

Marwan Sahmarani

Born in 1970 in Beirut, Lebanon, Marwan Sahmarani studied at l’École Supérieur d’Art  Graphique in Paris, France. His oil paintings are notable for his explosive use of color and frenetic brushwork that imbues the dense scenes he paints with energetic movement. 

Marwan Chamaa

Born in Lebanon in 1964, Marwan Chamaa is a painter, designer, and storyteller who studied Art at the American University of Beirut, the Lebanese American University, and the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C.

Anachar Basbous

Biography Born in 1969 in Lebanon, Anachar Basbous lives with his family in Rachana, a village renowned for its open-air sculptures overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Raised in a family of artists—his father,…

Fereydoun Ave

Born in Tehran, Iran in 1945, Fereydoun Ave is a central figure in the Iranian art scene as he is one of the most important and influential
contemporary artists of Iran.

Charles Khoury

Born in Lebanon in 1966, Charles Khoury creates works characterised by highly animated abstracted bodies and brightly coloured canvases.

Rim El Jundi

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.

Walid El Masri

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.

cultural narratives abir tabbara tukan artwork

Abir Tabbara Tukan

Biography Abir Tabbarrah Tukan, born on December 26, 1976, in Como, Italy, is a contemporary Arab artist specialising in oil painting. She grew up between war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, and peaceful Amman, Jordan,…

cultural narratives elmira mirmiran artwork

Elmira Mirmiran

Biography Elmira Mirmiran is a visual artist based in Tehran, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and a Master’s degree in Painting from the University of Science and Culture in Tehran.…

cultural narratives hakeem aboukila artwork

Hakeem Aboukila

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…

Saoud Al Dhaheri

Born in Al-Ain city, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1987, Saoud Al Dhaheri [RF1] joined the Higher Colleges of Technology Photography Club, and later the Emirates Photography Society, to pursue his artistic passion.

cultural narratives asmaa genidi artwork

Asmaa Genidi

Biography Asmaa Genidi was born in 1983 in Giza. She is a teacher at Helwan University, Art Education College, and holds a PhD in Art Education Philosophy, earned in 2016. She has…

Hamdan Buti Al Shamsi

Born in Al-Ain city in 1981, Hamdan Bity Al Shamsi is a self-taught artist who works in collage, digital media, and photography, often mixing digital and more traditional techniques to highlight the effects of consumer cultural and technological shifts on artistic production.

Guirguis Lotfy

Guirguis Lotfy is best known for his elaborative ancient painting techniques that were deployed between the 1st and 4th Centuries, namely, the use of egg tempera.

Salwa Zeidan

Born in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Salwa Zeidan left Lebanon in the 1980s and settled in the United Arab Emirates, where she worked as a painter and a curator.   She has contributed significantly to the regional art scene by opening the first contemporary art gallery in Abu Dhabi, in 1994, focusing on showing Emirate, Middle Eastern and international artists.

cultural narratives zaid shawwa artwork

Zaid Shawwa

Biography Zaid Shawwa, from Jordan, studied Engineering at the University of Jordan and earned an MBA from the American University in Dubai. He began with classic charcoal portraits and landscapes before transitioning…

Ahmad Kleige

Ahmad Kleige was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1964. He studied at the Fathi Mohamed Fine Arts Center in Aleppo.

Mohammad Labash

Born in Daraa, southwest Syria, in 1989, Mohammad Labash studied painting and drawing at Damascus University.

cultural narratives joanna barakat artwork

Joanna Barakat

Biography Joanna Barakat was born in Jerusalem, raised in Los Angeles, and later moved to London for her studies. She earned a BA in Art and Design from Central Saint Martins, University…

cultural narratives bahareh navabi artwork

Bahreh Navabi

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…

Kais Salman

Kais Salman was born in Tartous, Syria in 1976 and lives and works in
Beirut. He studied Fine Art at Damascus University. His paintings use satire to subvert the normalisation of greed, consumerism, and vanities that have come to define our globalised present.

Safwan Dahoul

Born in Hama, Syria in 1961, Safwan Dahoul was initially trained by leading modernists at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus before travelling to Belgium, where he earned a doctorate from the Higher Institute of Plastic Arts in Mons.

Nabil Saouabi

Since his first solo exhibition, Nabil Saouabi has participated in numerous exhibitions in Tunisia and abroad, including in biennials such as Dak’art, Beijing, and the 5th International Biennial of Engraving of Île de France.

Slimen Elkamel

Born in 1983 in Sidi Bouzid, Slimen Elkamel is a young visual artist and an extensively published art critic for newspapers, publications, and art catalogues.

cultural narratives sina choopani artwrok

Sina Choopani

Biography Born in Sari, Iran in 1992, Sina Choopani considers himself an experimental artist. He studied Sculpture at the University of Tehran. In his work, he mainly experiments with destruction and combines…

cultural narratives elnaz salehi artwork

Elnaz Salehi

Biography Elnaz Salehi, born in 1987 in Iran, holds a BA in Sculpture from Tehran Fine Art University. Since graduating, she has run a collective studio with other artists in the suburbs…