Born in Lebanon, 1945, Samir Sayegh is a pioneer of modernism in the Arab world. His practice is driven by a deep interest in the formal power of letters and he was one of the first who sought to liberate calligraphy from language in an effort to create a universal visual language.

Marwan Sahmarani is a Lebanese artist based between Beirut and the small Mediterranean mountain village of Tarbena, Spain. With strong brushstrokes and vivid colours, Sahmarani’s practice reflects on the increasing political turmoil and tension felt throughout his native Lebanon.

Represented by Addis Fine Art, Michael Tsegaye lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He received his diploma in painting from Addis Ababa University’s School of Fine Arts and Design in 2002, but soon gave up painting after he developed an allergy to oil paint.

Raed Yassin lives and works in Beirut. A graduate from the Theatre Department of the Institute of Fine Arts in Beirut, Yassin is an artist and musician, with his work often originating from an examination of his personal narratives and their position within a collective history.

Tadesse Mesfin's works are contemporary interpretations of frontal figures in columnar arrangements, influenced by ancient Egyptian sculptures and mythological drawings, infused with local colours, hinting at Ethiopian cities.

Marwan Rechmaoui derives inspiration from the geography and complex multi-cultural history of Beirut, reflecting on themes of urbanization and contemporary social and behavioral demographics.

Hayv Kahraman’s practice pulls on her personal experiences of migration to Europe, and reflects on the placelessness and experiences of the diaspora.

Born in Jerusalem in 1942, Meem Gallery artist Kamal Boullata is a Berlin-based painter, writer and historian

Haleh Redjaian, represented by Dubai’s Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, is an Iranian-German artist who works with a variety of artistic mediums: drawing, watercolour, textile, and wall installation.

Represented by Sfeir-Semler Gallery, German-Iranian photographer-turned-sculptor Timo Nasseri has held a dominant presence in his body of sculptural and illustrative works

Represented by Green Art Gallery in Dubai, Chaouki Choukini is a Lebanese-born, Paris-based artist, who is known for his bold yet poetic wooden sculptures.

Based in Berlin, the Tehran-born, Gypsum Gallery digital artist Setareh Shahbazi draws inspiration from visual objects that surround her.

Based between Beirut and Paris, Ali Cherri is a video and installation artist, who focuses on recording and displaying multilayered narratives that revolve around delicate matters of heritage, archaeology, and conservation.

Represented by The Third Line in Dubai, Sherin Guirguis is an Egyptian-born, California-based visual artist.

Ayyam Gallery artist Farzad Kohan is a Tehran-born, Los Angeles-based painter and sculptor, whose text-infused, mixed media works explore the themes of identity, migration, and human emotion.

Born in 1993, Athr Gallery artist Basmah Felemban is a Saudi graphic designer, whose intricate artworks – from works on paper to installations – focus on Islamic art and calligraphy.

Ania Soliman is an interdisciplinary artist, based in Paris and New York, who has a research-based practice and works across a wide range of media such as drawing, video, text, installation and performance.

Recognized as one of the pioneers of modern Arab art, the London-based, Iraqi artist Dia Azzawi’s body of work spans over forty years.

In his work, artist and designer Amir H. Fallah explores the idea of creating someone’s portrait without showing their physical likeness.

Shezad Dawood is a London-based multi-media artist of Pakistani and Indian descent and winner of the 2011 edition of the Abraaj Group Art Prize.

Aya Haidar’s Lebanese roots as well as the history of the Middle East inform much of her multimedia practice. Based in London where she grew up, Haidar poses questions focused on memory, loss and migration.

Bennani combines the radically different cultures of Morocco and New York City with her invented cast of animated digital characters, immersing the viewer in an environment of brightly colored, geometric forms and surfaces.

Rabah’s work is laced with humour and wit as the Ramallah-based artist continues to offer his version of an alternative history through the invention of the fictional Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind.

The Dubai-based Iranian artists are redefining the limits of their practice as individual artists and as a collaborative, fervently developing their work to tackle issues that constitute reality today.

Abdul Rahman Katanani uses Palestine as a metaphor for themes of hope, homeland, resilience and displacement as his subject matter.