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.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Hiba Kalache is an interdisciplinary artist whose intricate drawings and sculptural works seek to explore collective and personal memory, and the effects of conflict and trauma on society.
Yasser Abd Elhay Mourad Rostom, more commonly known artistically as Rostom, is a Cairo-based sculptor, painter, furniture designer, and art director. Following his education at the Cairo Faculty of Art, he worked as an art director’s assistant in Egyptian television and in TV commercials.
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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.
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.
Biography Mahshid RahimTabrizi was born in Tehran in 1969. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Painting and is a member of the Association of Iranian Painters. Mahshid has exhibited her work in…
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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…
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Oussama Baalbaki was born in Beirut in 1978, where he studied at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Art. His delicate paintings, often executed
in photo realistic detail, consist of black-and-white self-portraits, most
containing a single surrealistic element.
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Biography Mahsa Karimi was born in 1981 in Sabzevar, Iran. She earned an Associate Degree in Graphic Design from Valiasr University, Tehran in 2003, an Associate Degree from TAFE University, Sydney in…
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.
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Born in Baghdad in 1968, Serwan Baran is a graduate of Fine Arts from Babel University, a member of AIAP, the Iraqi Fine Art Association, and the National Art Association.
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Houman Al Sayed is best known for his large-scale paintings that depict alienated, shock-ridden subjects, whose disproportionately sized, swollen faces attest to their confusion and isolation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Biography Navid Azimi Sajadi, born in 1982 in Tehran, Iran, graduated in Painting from Azad University, Tehran, before moving to Rome to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. He…
Gylan Safadi was born in Sweida, Syria in 1977 and studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus.
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.
Abed Al Kadiri is a Lebanese artist and curator who has played a sizable role in developing and showcasing art from the region.
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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.
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.
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.
Born in Beirut, Ginane Makki Bacho is a multimedia artist whose work offers a unique perspective on the disruptive and brutal effects of the Lebanese Civil War and on-going wars in the contemporary world.
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.
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Biography Rawda Nour, born in 1990, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Graphics Department at Alexandria University. She has received several awards, including first prize at the Youth Salon,…
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…
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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.…
Born in Amman, Jordan in 1938 to a Lebanese father and a Turkish
mother, Mohanna Durra is a Jordanian painter widely regarded as a
pioneer of the Jordanian Arts Movement and for being the first to
introduce Cubism and abstract art into the Jordanian visual arts
community.
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Ekram Tira was born in Tunisia in 1982 and holds a degree in Fine Arts, with a specialization in engraving, and a master’s degree in Sciences and Techniques of the Arts from the Higher Institute of Fine Arts of Tunis. She has been teaching art since 2007.
Shadi Abousada is a painter, installation and video artist whose work explores the complex socio-political reality and absurdity of his cultural milieu.
Born in Deir al-Qamar in 1931, Laure Ghorayeb has been exhibiting her intricate ink drawings since the 1960s, documenting the people and events in her life, and charting their experiences of living through political conflict.
Born in Lebanon in 1966, Charles Khoury creates works characterised by highly animated abstracted bodies and brightly coloured canvases.
Biography Aidin Xankeshipour, born in 1981 in Rasht, Iran, began painting seriously in his hometown in 1997. He holds a BA in Painting from the University of Sistan and Baluchestan and two…
Born in Syria in 1982, Tarek Butayhi studied painting at Damascus University. He focuses on female figures in his work that seek to challenge traditional representations of femininity in art – namely, the role of women as muses.
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.
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.
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