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.

Monther Jawabreh

Monther Jawarbeh was born and raised in Al Arroub refugee camp, in Bethlehem. His expressive portraits of Palestinian men whose nationality is marked by the keffiyeh they wear reflect Jawarbeh’s interest in expressing a collective Palestinian identity.

Salama Al Mazrouei

Born in the United Arab Emirates, Salama Al Mazrouie graduated from the School of Fine Arts, UAE University, and is a member of the Emirates Fine Art Society.

Mohannad Orabi

Dubai-based painter Mohannad Orabi was born in Damascus in 1977 and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art in Damascus in 2000.

cultural narratives sahar al amir artwork

Sahar Al Amir

Biography Sahar Al Amir, born in Alexandria in 1970, is an Egyptian artist who has studied and received training in both Egypt and Italy across various mediums. She produces multilayered abstract work,…

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 samia osseiran jumblatt artwork

Samia Osseiran Jumblatt

Biography Samia Osseiran Jumblatt, born in Saida, South Lebanon, in 1944, studied Fine Arts at Beirut College for Women, graduating in 1965, and earned her MFA from the Pius XII Institute in…

cultural narratives sepideh sakhaei artwork

Sepideh Sakhaei

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…

cultural narratives farrokh nooroney artwork

Farrokh Nooroney

Biography Farokh Nooroney is an Iranian-Canadian artist specialising in painting and sculpture. He has showcased his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions across cities such as Las Vegas, Seattle, Paris, Dubai,…

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.

Julie Bou Farah

Born in Dahr El Sawan, in 1965, Julie Bou Farah graduated from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) where she later went on to teach in 1991.  Farah has also held teaching positions at Notre Dame University and the Lebanese University.

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.

Alfred Tarazi

Born in 1980, Lebanese artist Alfred Tarazi received a degree in Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut. One of his great achievements is the “Krinzinger Projekte” residency, which took place in Vienna.

Gilbert Hage

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.

Layal Khawly

Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, Layal Khawly studied Interior Architecture at ALBA and later obtained an MA in Visual arts. Her paintings engage with the sociopolitical environment of Lebanese villages and cities, specifically the architectural and structural complexity of her surroundings, that are brought to life through layered painting techniques.

Rached Bohsali

Rached Bohsali is a trained architect and painter whose work has been exhibited widely in his native Beirut, the Arab world, Europe and the United States.

Assadour

Artwork

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.

cultural narratives nehad saeed artwork

Nehad Saeed

Biography Nehad Saeed is a Cairo-based artist with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and a master’s degree in fine arts from Helwan University, Cairo. She has participated in several biennials, including…

Mohammed Al Hawajri

Mohammed Al Hawajri was born in 1976 in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza. Between 1999 and 2001, Al Hawarji participated in the Darat Al Funun Summer Academy in Amman, Jordan led by Marwan Qassab Bashi, and in 2008 he received a grant to study at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

cultural narratives mohamad el rawas artwork

Mohammad El Rawas

Mohammad El Rawas is one of Lebanon’s most prominent contemporary artists.  He was born in 1951 in Beirut, Lebanon, where he studied at the Institute of Fine Arts at the Lebanese University, and later moved to London to study printmaking at the Slade School of Fine Art. 

Edward Shahda

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

Abed Al Kadiri

Abed Al Kadiri is a Lebanese artist and curator who has played a sizable role in developing and showcasing art from the region.

Charles Khoury

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

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…

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…

cultural narratives sadra mirhsarifi artwork

Sadra Mirsharifi

Biography Sadra Mirsharifi, born in 1996 in Tehran, is a graduate of the Tehran School of Fine Arts. He was a former member of the Eastern Whistle collective and has exhibited his…

Jacques Rizkallah

Born in 1959 in Deir El Kamar, Lebanon Jacques Rizkallah graduated from the Lebanese University of Fine Arts, after which he studied Mural and Fresco Painting in Rome, Italy.   His abstract works explode with color.

cultural narratives ufemia rizk artwork

Ufemia Rizk

Biography Ufemia Rizk studied at the American University of Beirut, Sorbonne University in Paris, and the Fahrelnissa Zeid Royal Institute of Fine Arts, where she focused on art. At Dawson College in…

Afaf Zurayk

spired and guided by both music and poetry, Zurayk’s drawings explore, in her words, “the fluctuating gradations of emotional experience,” which is reflected in intense painterly markings that capture both movement and flux – a technique that also characterizes her brushwork in both figurative and abstract artworks.

Thaier Helal

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.

Ismail Al Rifai

Ismail Al Rifai was born in Mayadin in 1967 and studied Fine Art at the University of Damascus. Al Rifai has served as a member of the Syrian Fine Arts Syndicate as well as the UAE Fine Arts Society and currently works as a researcher in the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah.

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.

Ymen Berhouma

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.

cultural narratives sami mohammad artwork

Sami Mohammad

Sami Mohammad is a Kuwaiti artist and sculptor considered one of the pioneers of cultural movements in Kuwait and throughout the region.

Shadi Abousada

Shadi Abousada is a painter, installation and video artist whose work explores the complex socio-political reality and absurdity of his cultural milieu.

Ayman Baalbaki

Ayman Baalbaki was born in Adeisseh in 1975, the same year the Lebanese civil war began. A lot of his work tackles this conflict and its aftermath. It looks at destruction, displacement, loss, identity, and collective memory. Baalbaki is best-known for his large-scale paintings, executed primarily in thick acrylic paint, distinct for their sense of organised chaos.

Amin Akbari

B. 1988, Bojnurd, Iran

Raed Issa

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.