b. 1963
Egyptian artist Ghada Amer (b. 1963) subverts traditional notions of cultural identity, abstraction, and religious fundamentalism through mediums of painting, sculpture and public garden projects. Born in Cairo, Amer emigrated from Egypt to France at the age of 11 and studied at Villa Arson in Nice. In 1989 she received her MFA from the École nationale supérieure d’art in Paris (1989). She currently lives and works between New York and Paris.
Amer is known for her large-scale abstract canvases that merge painting with embroidery, depicting images of women in autoerotic poses. These intricate fabric works interrogate social issues, including sexuality, female identity, and Islamic culture.
Amer has exhibited at the Sydney and Whitney Biennales, and was awarded the UNESCO prize at the Venice Biennale in 1999. She was the first Arab artist to be given a solo show at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2000. Her works are housed in the collections of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among others.
Ghada Amer’s Rejection Letter: “I thought I would never become a ‘real’ artist”
