Shaikha El Kutbi is a visual artist who works primarily in photography, drawing, and installation art. Her work is self-reflexive, exploring themes of self-awareness and perceptibility and often blurring the line between fiction and reality.
Born in Lebanon in 1957, Hala Choucair is a painter who is best known for her intricate paintings that focus on the minute detail of the objects she draws.
Born in 1983, Abdulrahman Katanani was raised in the Sabra refugee camps (Beirut, Lebanon). He is a third-generation refugee
since his grandparents fled their hometown, Jaffa in Palestine, settling in Shatila after the Nakba in 1948.
Leila Kubba was born of a Swiss American mother and Iraqi father. She was educated in Baghdad and went on to graduate with a National Diploma of Art and Design from the Manchester School of Art and Architecture in the UK and also studied for a period of five years at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington DC, as well as taking courses in printmaking and painting at Saint Martins College, London.
Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1960, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji lives and works in Amersfoort, Netherlands. In 1987, he received a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad and a diploma in Graphic Design from CHK Constantin Huygens in the Netherlands.
Born in Babel in 1965, Ahmed Al Bahrani is a contemporary Iraqi artist and sculptor. After graduating from the Fine Arts Institute in Baghdad in 1988, he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1992-94. Relocating to Qatar in 1998, he co-founded Mimar Gallery with architect Hazem Abu Naba’a and has exhibited regularly throughout the Middle East and internationally. In recent years, he earned a significant following in the Gulf art scene, where he has been featured in some of the region’s most prominent commercial art spaces, such as Art Sawa Gallery in Dubai and Albareh Art Gallery in Bahrain. He has been commissioned for a number of public works in Iraq, Qatar and across the Middle East. Constantly evolving his artistic approach, he works across different mediums, including painting, printmaking and reliefs. He lives and works in Qatar.
Dena Matar lives and works in Gaza, where she received a degree in Fine Art and Education from Al Aqsa University. Her dynamic use of color and line offers an optimistic and hopeful view of life in Gaza, lending a psychological dimension to her paintings, rather than representing a region crippled by Israeli incursions and blockades. Despite her young age and the profound challenges of living under siege, she has made a vital contribution to artistic production in Gaza through her paintings and by acting as a mentor for artists. She is a member of the ELTIQA artist collective in Gaza City and has participated in several local exhibitions and workshops in Gaza in cooperation with A.M. Qattan Foundation, the French Cultural Centre, and other institutions. Matar’s unique style, which critics have likened to the colorful and unique compositions of Juan Miro and Pablo Picasso, has gained her international recognition. Her work has been exhibited in Switzerland, Geneva, France, and the Mosaic Rooms in London as part of their ‘Occupied Space’ exhibition in 2008. In 2012, she was selected to participate in the artistic residence in Paris, Cité Internationale des Arts.
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Suleiman Mansour is one of Palestine’s leading contemporary artists. He is best known for his 1974 painting Camel of Hardship, which depicts the concept of summud, or steadfastness.
Biography The Ghasemi Brothers – Morteza, Sina, and Mojtaba Ghasemi Sheelsar – have been collaborating since 2015. While they each pursue their own painting projects individually, they also come together to work…
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.
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.
Born in 1966, Lebanese photographer Gilbert Hage explores the contemporary strengths of his medium. He studied at the SaintEsprit University in Kaslik and has been teaching there since 1990.
Biography Sepideh Sakhaei, born in 1993 in Tehran, Iran, is a multidisciplinary artist. She earned her BFA from the Art University of Tehran in 2016 and a Master’s degree in General Psychology…
Biography Ghada Dahdaleh, born in 1963 in Amman, is a Palestinian-Jordanian artist who graduated from the Central Technical College of Art in Toronto, Canada. She creates abstract cityscapes with a distinctive style,…
Born in Basra in 1974, Saddam Jumaily lives and works in Jordan. He has a bachelor degree in Plastic Arts and an MA in Fine Arts-Painting department from the Basra University College of Fine Arts, Iraq, where has also lectured in Fine Arts.
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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.…
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Biography Amir Soghrati, born in 1979 in Rasht, Iran, graduated in Publication and Press Graphic Arts from the Center for Media Studies and Research in Tehran in 2002. He has been a…
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.
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.
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Biography Hind Nasser, born in Amman in 1940, graduated with a BA in History and Politics from Beirut College for Women (now the Lebanese American University) in 1961. She began studying painting…
Born in 1982 in Tunis, multi-disciplinary artist Thameur Mejri trained as a painter at the Institute of Fine Arts in Tunis and now lives and works in Nabeul, Tunisia. He currently teaches at the Higher Institute of the Arts & Crafts in Kairouan while completing a Ph.D. in Sciences and Technology of Arts and continuing to exhibit in Tunisia and internationally.
Born in Tunisia in 1965, Feryel Lakhdar studied at École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture and at École des Beaux-arts in Paris. She took part in the production of film set design when she moved to France to study urban and furniture design.
Alaa Sharabi was born in Damascus in 1988 and studied printmaking at the University of Damascus where he was later appointed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts. His bold paintings combine rich palettes with frenetic lines and complex compositions.
Born in Kuwait, F160 is an artist that stands out for his current, “street” and comedic approach. He studied Advertising and Communication at the University of Oregon, USA. His graphic style thrives on its lightheartedness yet is not shy of dark material.
Born in Lebanon in 1957, Hanibal Srouji studied in Lebanon and Canada and has been living between Beirut and Paris since 1989. His muted canvases which appear abstract at first glance, are in fact inspired by the artist’s own memories.
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Born in Tunisia in 1976, self-taught artist Ymen Berhouma lives and works between Paris and Tunis. Her debut in the art world began through her vibrant painting whose characters invited spectators into a dream-like world.
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Born in Bizerte, Tunisia in 1965, Imed Jemaiel shifted his attention to the arts after two years of medical school. In 1990, he earned a degree in Fine Arts, specialising in printmaking. In 1992, he started teaching at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Tunisia.
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.
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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.
Mohamad Khayata obtained his degree in Fine Arts from the Damascus university. Since moving to Lebanon in 2012, he has held three solo exhibitions at 392RMEIL393 in 2013, 2015, and 2017 and participated at the Beirut Art Fair in 2017.
Nizar Othman is a visual artist born in Lebanon and of Syrian descent. Outhman began his professional career working as a journalist and caricaturist, for which he was awarded the Bronze medal at the Guangxi international comics in 2007 (University city Guangxi); the “Excellence Award at e Competition of Guangxi international comics in 2007 (University city Guangxi) China; a Special Honorary Prize – Competition of the International Journal of Rhino (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 2008.
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.
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.
Aula Al Ayoubi was born in Damascus in 1973 and studied mathematics and educational sciences at the University of Damascus.
Oregon-based artist Yasmina Nysten was born in Helsinki in 1988 and has lived in Finland, France, Lebanon, New York and Philadelphia. She studied Fine Arts at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Art (ALBA) and Digital Animation at New York’s Pratt Institute.
Zuheir Dabbagh was born in Aleppo in 1953 and studied at Damascus University …graduation project was about the massacre of Tal al-Zaatar (1976).
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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.…
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…
Nariman Farrokhi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1985. He has created a unique approach to language, using words for visual impact,
favouring simplicity and directness.