By: Kameron Dreher/Arab America Contributing Writer
Look no farther if you’re looking for new musicians to follow. The Arab artists listed below are just a handful of the many who have left an indelible imprint on the Arab world and beyond. Whether they are raising awareness about human rights issues or experimenting with new mediums or methodologies, each one is revolutionary in their own right and deserves to be recognized.
1. Tammam Azzam
Tammam Azzam, a painter and graphic designer, was born in Damascus, Syria. Following the commencement of the Syrian conflict, Azzam resorted to digital media and graphic art to develop conflict visualizations for foreign audiences. When Azzam’s liberation graffiti went viral on social media in 2013, he made headlines throughout the world.
2. El Seed
El Seed is a Paris-based French/Tunisian artist. El Seed is an artist and calligrapher who primarily works with paradoxical issues, but his art portrays the truth of mankind and our modern world. He promotes humanist values and spreads the message of service to humanity via each of his undertakings. He was awarded the UNESCO Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture in 2017.
3. Nourine Hammad
Hammad learnt how to create hyper-realistic three-dimensional art through her own independent research and practice. People mistake Hammad’s paintings for real items, and she continues to grab their gaze. “She aspires to create precise art that honors excellence and imperfection coexisting together by tackling her subject matter honestly and without vanity.”
4. Reem Nazir
Reem Nazir’s vibrant still lifes, landscapes, and jewelry paintings personify Saudi Arabia and its culture. She is a member of the women’s Saudia at Art Group. She displays this using oil or acrylic paint, and her emphasis on color and mark weight provides a fresh and vibrant perspective to painting.
5. Noha Bahr
Egyptian visual artist Noha Bahr creates lovely sketches and digital artwork. Bahr has created her own funny characters and routines with a vintage feel, inspired by cartoons from her childhood. She makes characters who look like they’re from a children’s book or a comic book. She combines 2D visuals with 3D objects.
6. Shurooq Amin
Shurooq Amin is a mixed media artist who is focused on improving society. He was born to a Kuwaiti father and a Syrian mother. “Amin has emerged as a key female voice in the Arabian Gulf” after a succession of critically lauded shows in her native Kuwait. She shows faceless multi-generational characters with humor and irony, combining photography and painting to expose the inconsistencies of a conservative state.
7. Ahmed Emad El-Din
Ahmed Emad El-Din is an Egyptian digital designer who rose to prominence after his design was featured on Pink Floyd’s The Endless River album in 2014. Eldin has been a self-taught artist since the age of 13 and draws inspiration from important painters such as Salvador Dali and the “black realm” of painting.
8. Huda Beydoun
While Beydoun began her career as a painter, she now works in a variety of mediums, including digital art, mixed media, and photography. Her striking aesthetic and style deviates from the traditional calligraphic style associated with Saudi art. Her graphic style lends itself to the creation of motifs that serve as trademarks for her work. She juxtaposes photographs of undocumented images of her birthplace with Disney motifs and emblems such as Mickey Mouse. “An unbalanced reflection, or the lack thereof, between illegal immigrants and I,” she says.
9. Helen Zughaib
Helen Zughaib, a painter and multimedia artist, infuses her work with a particular twist based on her Middle Eastern background and her collected experiences in America. She was born in Lebanon and now lives and works in Washington, D.C. On boards and canvases, she typically uses gouache and ink. She’s worked with wood, shoes, cloth, and mixed-media pieces more lately. She hopes that art may be utilized to encourage healthy dialogue about the Middle East as a US cultural envoy to the West Bank, Palestine.
10. Aisha Mershani
Photographer Aisha Mershani has recorded Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Her images, which are seldom shown or seen in mainstream media, have shown the realities of life on the West Bank by showcasing the Palestinian people’s movement and tenacity.
