Artwork
Lebanon
Cultural Narratives, commissioned by Rima Nasser, features works from established and emerging artists in the Middle
Egypt
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,…
Iran
Artwork
Egypt
Aly Said was born on the north side of the river Nile near the historical city of Rosetta in Egypt. He began his study at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 1997, graduating from the painting department in 2002 and earning his master’s degree in 2012.
Lebanon
Artwork
Egypt
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…
Iran
Biography Fatemeh Bahman, born in Tehran, Iran, in 1981, is an accomplished painter and art writer. She has a background in mathematics and literature graphics from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic…
Iraq
Born in Theeqar, Iraq in 1958, London-based Hanaa Malallah is a visual artist and educator. She received a bachelor’s degree in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad, an MA in Painting, a Ph.D.
Iran
Artwork
Iran
Biography Sadra Baniasadi, born in 1991 in Tehran, Iran, is a painter. He studied painting at Tehran Art University from 2010 to 2015 and began exhibiting his work in galleries during his…
Iran
Artwork
Egypt
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.
Syria
Ahmad Kleige was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1964. He studied at the Fathi Mohamed Fine Arts Center in Aleppo.
Lebanon
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.
Iran
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…
Lebanon
Artwork
Iran
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…
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Kuwait
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.
Lebanon
Born in Lebanon in 1978, Carla Salem is a papermaker and printmaker whose work explores the relationship between language and form.
Egypt
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.
Iraq
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.
Lebanon
Born in Lebanon in 1966, Charles Khoury creates works characterised by highly animated abstracted bodies and brightly coloured canvases.
Lebanon
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.
Iran
Artwork
Iran
Biography Azadeh Ghotbi was born in Iran and is currently based in London. She is a painter and photographer who studied International Relations at Brown University in the United States. Her work…
Syria
Aula Al Ayoubi was born in Damascus in 1973 and studied mathematics and educational sciences at the University of Damascus.
Iran
Artwork
Iran
Born in Karaj, Iran in 1987, Mirmohammad Fattahi obtained a
diploma in painting from the School of Fine Arts in Iran, followed by
a BA in painting from Soore Art University of Tehran.
Lebanon
Joseph Harb was born in Beirut in 1964 and studied at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) and the Lebanese University. His paintings of seemingly disparate objects that borrow techniques from collage point to Harb’s desire to blur the formal artistic boundaries in his abstract mixed media works.
Palestine
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.
Iraq
Biography Omar Al Shahabi was born in Iraq in 1983. He earned a BFA from the University of Baghdad in 2007 and now lives and works in Qatar. He has held solo…
Iran
Artwork
Tunisia
Born in Tunisia in 1937, Nja Mahdaoui graduated from the Academia Santa Andrea in Rome and the École du Louvre in Paris in 1967. As a visual artist he has mainly focused on calligraphy. Initially inspired by abstract painting, his work is remarkably innovative in the artistic field of the “written word”.
Kuwait
Sami Mohammad is a Kuwaiti artist and sculptor considered one of the pioneers of cultural movements in Kuwait and throughout the region.
Jordan
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…
Egypt
Born in Egypt, Aly Sirry is a self-taught artist who works in various mediums including pottery, paper-making, metal, wood, ink and acrylic. He is a full-time diplomat with a real passion for the creative fields.
Iran
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…
Lebanon
Elie Bourgely was born in 1960 and studied Fine Art and Art History in Beirut and Paris receiving his doctoral studies in Art History followed by a post-graduate diploma (DEA) in Art History (Paris IV University – Sorbonne, Paris – France).
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Palestine
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.
Iran
Biography Farsam Sangini, born in Tehran in 1988, is a contemporary figurative painter and art teacher. Self-taught in graphic design, painting, and animation, he has been teaching drawing, painting, composition, and anatomy…
Syria
Zuheir Dabbagh was born in Aleppo in 1953 and studied at Damascus University …graduation project was about the massacre of Tal al-Zaatar (1976).
Iran
Artwork
Tunisia
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.
Iran
Artwork
Syria
Gylan Safadi was born in Sweida, Syria in 1977 and studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus.