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.

Joseph Harb

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.

Fares Rizk

Born in Cairo from a Palestinian Jordanian family. Fares Rizk studied fine art at Parson’s school of design and graduated with an M.F.A.

cultural narratives farsam sangini artwork

Farsam Sangini

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…

Walid Agha

Walid Agha was born in Damascus in 1953 and studied Visual Communications at the University of Damascus before establishing his own silk-screening workshop.

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.

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.

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.

Manuella Guiragossian

Born in Beirut in 1972 to famous Armenian, Lebanese modernist Paul Guiragossian, Manuella Guiragossian grew up surrounded by people with a passion for art and culture.

Mohsen Ahmadvand

Born in Tehran, Iran in 1982, Mohsen Ahmadvand received his BA
in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University. He
prefers drawing over painting for its efficiency and directness.

cultural narratives bita fayyazi artwork

Bita Fayyazi

Biography Bita Fayyazi, born in 1962 in Tehran, is an artist known for her performative and social practice. More than a sculptor, installation artist, or ceramicist, she engages in a collaborative approach…

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).

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.

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.

Saddam Jumaily

Born in Basra in 1974, Saddam Jumaily lives and works in Jordan. He has a bachelor degree in Plastic Arts and an MA in Fine Arts-Painting department from the Basra University College of Fine Arts, Iraq, where has also lectured in Fine Arts.

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 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…

Hanibal Srouji

Born in Lebanon in 1957, Hanibal Srouji studied in Lebanon and Canada and has been living between Beirut and Paris since 1989. His muted canvases which appear abstract at first glance, are in fact inspired by the artist’s own memories. 

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,…

Walid Ebeid

Walid Ebeid was born in 1970 in Cairo. He began to establish his form of realistic expressionism from the time he was six years old. The main theme of his paintings gives one the impression that there is always a mystic message behind the realistic visuals recreated with his own vision.

Elias Izoli

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

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.

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.

Shaikha El Ketbi

Shaikha El Kutbi is a visual artist who works primarily in photography, drawing, and installation art.  Her work is self-reflexive, exploring themes of self-awareness and perceptibility and often blurring the line between fiction and reality. 

Tayseer Barakat

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.

Sinan Hussein

Born in 1977 in Iraq, Sinan Hussein graduated from the University of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He is a member of the Iraqi Fine Arts Artist Society and of the Union of Iraqi Artists. Sinan Hussein’s whimsical characters seem weightless in an environment reminiscent of Limbo.

cultural narrartives amin montazeri artwork

Amin Montazeri

Biography Amin Montazeri, born in 1992 in Tehran, Iran, earned his BFA in Painting in 2014 and his MA in Painting in 2016 from Tehran’s University of Art. Montazeri creates detailed illustrative…

Mirmohammad Fattahi

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.

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.…

Jean Boghossian

Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1949, Jean Boghossian is an abstract, multidisciplinary
artist of Armenian descent. He studied Economics and Sociology at Saint Joseph
University (USJ) in Beirut while working for the family jewellery business. In 1975,
he moved to Belgium to escape the civil war in Lebanon.

Ahoo Maher

B. 1990, Tehran, living in Vienna since 2008.

cultural narratives mostafa Sarabi Artwork

Mostafa Sarabi

Biography Mostafa Sarabi was born in 1983 in Kermanshah, Iran. He received an MA in Painting from Shahed University, Iran. Sarabi employs a simple and direct visual language to create mysterious landscapes,…

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.

cultural narratives yasaman nozari artwork

Yasaman Nozari

Biography Yasaman Nozari, born in 1991 in Tehran, is an Iranian artist currently living and working in Gent, Belgium. She holds a degree in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at…

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.

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.

Khalid Takreti

Khalid Takriti is a renowned Syrian artist, who was born in Beirut in 1964.  He graduated from the Architecture and Painting Academy in Damascus after which he worked as an architect in Damascus’ General Directorate of Antiquity and Museums.

Barsoum Barsouma

Born in Hasaka in 1947, Barsoum Barsouma studied painting at the University of Damascus before working as a patterning expert at the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums.