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 afshan daneshvar artwork

Afshan Daneshvar

Biography Afshan Daneshvar, born in 1972, is a Dubai-based Iranian visual artist. Mentored in Persian calligraphy by her father, she has incorporated it into her practice since 2004. Her meditative work focuses…

cultural narratives ava rasti artwork

Ava Rasti

Artwork

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 mahshid rahim tabrizi artwork

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

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…

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.

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 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…

cultural narratives ali kaeini artwork

Ali Kaeini

Artwork

Ghadah Alkandari

Ghadah Alkandari is an artist living and working in Kuwait, born in India in 1969 with a BA in Mass Communications from the American University in Cairo (1992).

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.

Raouf Rifai

Born in Lebanon in 1954 Raouf Rifai lives and works in Beirut. He has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the Sorbonne in Paris and teaches art at the Lebanese University.

Chaouki Chamoun

Born in Lebanon in 1942, Chaouki Chamoun studied Fine Art at the Lebanese University, and received his MFA from Syracuse University in New York. Between 1975 and 1979, Cahmoun continued his studies in Aesthetics and Studio Art at New York University where he was a full time fellow in the PhD programme.

Shadi Abousada

Shadi Abousada is a painter, installation and video artist whose work explores the complex socio-political reality and absurdity of his cultural milieu.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan author, poet and painter born in 1944 in Fez. Although he started drawing before writing, he only began painting in the past ten years. After attending a bilingual French-Moroccan primary school, he studied at the French lycée in Tangier until he was 18.

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 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 navid azimi sajadi artwork

Navid Azimi Sajadi

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…

Mohannad Orabi

Dubai-based painter Mohannad Orabi was born in Damascus in 1977 and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art in Damascus in 2000.

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,…

Sadik Kwaish Alfraji

Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1960, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji lives and works in Amersfoort, Netherlands. In 1987, he received a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad and a diploma in Graphic Design from CHK Constantin Huygens in the Netherlands.

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.

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. 

Nawal Alsadon

Born in 1953 in Baghdad, Nawal Alsadon graduated in 1980 in Graphic Design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania. She began participating in group exhibitions in 1975, beginning with The Association of Iraqi Artists gallery in Baghdad, and since then has had her art shown in numerous exhibitions across the world, including in Romania, Yemen, Syria, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Turkey.

Samia Halaby

Samia Halaby is a leading figure in the abstraction movement within the Arab world and a preeminent scholar of Palestinian Art.

Anachar Basbous

Biography Born in 1969 in Lebanon, Anachar Basbous lives with his family in Rachana, a village renowned for its open-air sculptures overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Raised in a family of artists—his father,…

Mohammed Al Hawajri

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.

Slimen Elkamel

Born in 1983 in Sidi Bouzid, Slimen Elkamel is a young visual artist and an extensively published art critic for newspapers, publications, and art catalogues.

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 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 ali neema artwork

Ali Neema

Artwork

cultural narratives nehad saeed artwork

Nehad Saeed

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…

cultural narratives sina choopani artwrok

Sina Choopani

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…

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.

Aly Said

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.

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.

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.

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.

Amin Akbari

B. 1988, Bojnurd, Iran