“Sometimes in some work, I act like a channel, a channel to bring to life people’s screams.”
Moataz Nasr is one of the most significant multi-media artists of his generation. He employs painting, sculpture, photography, video, and public art to create installations, which connect past and present, the spiritual and the worldly, and his homeland, Egypt, and the universal. In parallel with his work in the studio, Nasr maintains a social practice anchored by his Cairo-based nonprofit, Darb 1718, which gives access to an independent platform for education and culture through outreach programs. His commitment to formal intervention and social activism anchors Nasr’s contribution to culture at large, exemplifying his belief that artists in the 21st century can reinvent the world we live in.
Moataz Nasr was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1961. After studying economics, he took a studio in Old Cairo. He soon gained local recognition marked by numerous prizes before breaking into the international art scene in 2001, notably winning the Grand Prix at the 8th International Cairo Biennial and in 2002 winning the Biennale Prize of Dakar Biennale, Senegal. He lives and works in Cairo.
Moataz Nasr participated in important international art events, including the Venice Biennale (2003), the Seoul Biennale (2004), the Sao Paulo Biennale (2004), the Yokohama Triennale (2005), the Canarie Biennale (2008), the Lubumbashi Biennale (2010), the Thessaloniki Biennale (2011), Çanakkale Bienali (2012), La Otra Bienal de Arte di Bogota (2013), Dakar Biennale (2016), and group events such as Arte all’Arte (San Gimignano, 2004), Africa Remix (Dusseldorf, 2004; London, 2005; Paris, 2005; Tokyo, 2006; Johannesburg, 2007), Ghosts of Self and State (Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2006), a solo exhibition at The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan, 2006, Château de Blandy-les-Tours in 2011 and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (2016).
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