Riham ElSadany


Born in Cairo in 1978, Riham Elsadany works and lives in the US.

Elsadany holds a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan, in Performance Art. A painter, sculptor, and multi-media artist, Elsadany draws on various movements and techniques, such as Surrealism, Picasso’s childlike spontaneity, and Frida Kahlo’s depiction of pain.

Elsadany indulges into a world of dramatic fantasy, masterly vacillating between the complex human psyche’s visible and invisible. When looking at Elsadany’s body of work, one wonders whether she is painting her dreams and fears or simply painting our own reality as it really is and as she sees it.

The women in Elsadany’s work are the heroes. Though mostly bulky and muscular, they are tender, romantic, and sensual. It is, however, the setup, rich in optical illusions and superimposed elements, that takes us on a medley of the real and the imagined, the disturbing and the comforting; the known that we recognize, and the unconscious that we try to escape from.