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.

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.

Mahmoud Obaidi

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.

Ahmed Al Bahrani

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.

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.

Sepideh Zamani

Born in Tehran, Iran in 1986, Sepideh Zamani completed her BFA in
Sculpture at the Art University of Tehran. She began her artistic
venture as a graphic designer, working in advertising companies.

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,…

Yasmina Nysten

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.

Jean-Marc Nahas

Born in 1963 Beirut, Lebanon, Jean Marc Nahas is best known for his caricature figures and animalistic motifs that capture the psychological dimensions of war, civil conflict and political turmoil.

Zeina Badran

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.

cultural narratives habib farajabadi artwork

Habib Farajabadi

Biography Habib Farajabadi, born in 1982 in Iran, is a painter and sculptor based in Tehran. He employs various tools like nails, wood stock, forks, and brushes to create his vibrant acrylic…

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.

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…

Katya Traboulsi

Born in 1960, Katya Traboulsi is a Beirut-based multimedia artist whose practice is characterized by the emotional intensity with which she confronts the effects of the Lebanese civil war.

Ghylan Safadi

Gylan Safadi was born in Sweida, Syria in 1977 and studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus.

cultural narratives dariush zandi artwork

Dariush Zandi

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…

Mouteea Murad

Born in Homs in 1977, Mouteea Murad studied Fine Arts at the University of Damascus. His works are inspired by traditional Islamic art in which spirituality and formalism are unified in geometric form.

Bassem Dahdouh

Born in Damascus in 1964, Bassem Dahdouh studied art at the University of Damascus and received his PhD from Egypt’s Helwan University.

Tagreed Dargouth

Born in Saida in 1979, Tagreed Darghouth studied painting and sculpture at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Art.

Hala Choucair

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.

Mohamed Abusal

Born in Gaza in 1976 Mohamed Abusal explores the precarity and absurdity of living under siege. A painter, photographer, and video and installation artist, Abusal’s works offer a provocative and critical reflection on the trappings–both technological, political, and social–of living in Gaza today.

Nazir Ismail

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1948, Nazir Ismail took part in over 60 exhibitions throughout his artistic career. His colourful oil paintings capture human figures and roosters in warm, earthy colours, while his watercolours on paper convey the realities of modern Syria.

Mohamad Khayata

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.

Salwa Eid

Artwork

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,…

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…

cultural narratives ali neema artwork

Ali Neema

Artwork

Amer Shomali

Born in Kuwait in 1981, Amer Shomali holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Birzeit University in Palestine and an MA in
Animation from Bournemouth University in the UK.

Khaled Ben Slimane

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.

Ayesha Hadhir

Ayesha Hadhir is an emerging Emirati visual artist working predominantly in textile, creating textured pieces – either embroidered materials mounted on screens or stand-alone larger-scale sculptural pieces –centralizing the materials she uses, namely brightly colored threads that are often left hanging and unstitched.

Liane Mathes Rabbath

Liane Mathes Rabbath is a Beirut-based artist who for the past 20 years or so, has experimented with the diverse medium of collage, creating elaborate geometric works that attest to the versatility of her chosen medium.

cultural narratives ghada dahdaleh artwork

Ghada Dahdaleh

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,…

Maysaloun Faraj

Born in 1955 in Hollywood, California to Iraqi parents, Maysaloun Faraj grew up between the USA (1955-68) in Baghdad, where she obtained a BSc in Architecture from Baghdad University 1973-78) and London, where she furthered her art education and where she has been living and working since 1982.

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…

cultural narratives sara abbasian artwork

Sara Abbasian

Biography Sara Abbasian, born in 1982 in Tehran, Iran, earned her BFA in Painting in 2014. Her dark, apocalyptic, black-and-white drawings explore the often inhumane behaviours of contemporary society. Her work reflects…

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.

Nabil Anani

Nabil Anani is one of Palestine’s most influential artists working today. Born in Latroun in 1943, Anani studied Fine Art at Alexandria University, Egypt and returned to his native Palestine, where he began a successful career as an artist and educator.

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.

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…