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.
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,…

Elias Izoli

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1976, Elias Izoli is a self-taught painter whose creative talents were revealed at a young age.

Serwan Baran

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.

Paul M.

Artwork

cultural narratives elmira mirmiran artwork

Elmira Mirmiran

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.…

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…

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.

cultural narratives rawda nour artwork

Rawda Nour

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,…

cultural narratives aidin xankeshipour artwork

Aidin Xankeshipour

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…

Tagreed Dargouth

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

Raya Farhat

Award-winning, Beirut-based art director and photographer Raya Farhat has been a contributor to Lebanon’s A Mag (Aïshti) and L’Officiel-Levant for over eight years. She’s collaborated with international photographers and stylists such as David Bellemère, Marco Pietracupa, Jürgen Teller and Oliver Hadlee Pearch, among many others.

Kourosh Salehi

Born in Khuzestan, Iran and raised in London, Kourosh Salehi
studied traditional Persian painting as a child and later attended
art school in the UK. He is based in Abu Dhabi.

Jad El Khoury

Jad El Khoury is best known for his fictitious characters, referred to as Potato Nose, which includes a series of doodled cartoon characters drawn in black outline with exaggerated yet simple features.

Laure Ghorayeb

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.

Yasser Rostom 

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.

Fathallah Zamroud

A Syrian-Lebanese painter, born in Lebanon in 1968, Fathallah Zamroud studied interior architecture at the Lebanese American University, going on to spend seven years training with painter Louna Maalouf.

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.

Zouhair Dabbagh

Zuheir Dabbagh was born in Aleppo in 1953 and studied at Damascus University …graduation project was about the massacre of Tal al-Zaatar (1976).

Hanaa Malallah

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.

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. 

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.

Anas Albraehe

Born in Syria in 1991, Anas Albraehe is a Beirut-based artist who
primarily works in painting and theatre. In 2014, he received a
bachelor’s degree in Painting and Drawing from the Fine Arts
University of Damascus, Syria.

Azza Al Qubaisi

Born in Abu Dhabi, Azza Al Qubaisi studied in London where she received an MA in Cultural and Creative Industries HCT-CERT Abu Dhabi and a BA in Silversmithing, Jewellery Design, and Allied Crafts from London Guildhall.  Often referred to as the Emirates’ First Jewellery Artist, Al Qubaisi produces wearable jewelry pieces and large-scale sculptural works that are influenced by the desert landscape of the United Arab Emirates and its rich ancestral past.

cultural narratives sadaf hesamiyan artwork

Sadaf Hesamiyan

Biography Sadaf Hesamiyan, born in 1986 and raised in Booshehr, holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Booshehr University and a Master’s degree from Honar University. She currently lives and works in Tehran.…

cultural narratives abir tabbara tukan artwork

Abir Tabbara Tukan

Biography Abir Tabbarrah Tukan, born on December 26, 1976, in Como, Italy, is a contemporary Arab artist specialising in oil painting. She grew up between war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, and peaceful Amman, Jordan,…

Bashar Alhroub

Bashar Alhroub is a Jerusalem-born artist known for his eclectic artistic practice, which includes collage on paper; sculpture; autobiographical photography; figurative paintings depicting haunting figures; detailed line drawings of Jerusalem and its surroundings.

Nadim Karam

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.

Omar Zeidan

Omar Zeidan is a mixed media Lebanese artist who works predominantly in painting and digital media.  Zeidan’s unique style borrows techniques from digital art as well as music and sound composition, owing to his experience as a techno composer.

Elie Bourgely

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).

Ghassan Zard

Born in Lebanon in 1954, Ghassan Zard lives and works in Beirut. Influenced by lyrical abstraction, Zard began his artistic career as a painter but later focused predominantly on sculptural works rendered in polished wood, aluminium and raw steel.

Klay Kassem

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.

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.

cultural narratives nada rizk artwork

Nada Rizk

Biography Nada Rizk is a Lebanese Finnish artist specialising in ceramics and bronze. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the London School of Economics and a…

cultural narratives sadra beniasadi artwork

Sadra Baniasadi

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…

Ahmad Kleige

Ahmad Kleige was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1964. He studied at the Fathi Mohamed Fine Arts Center in Aleppo.