Moataz Nasr

The Seventh Wave

Moataz Nasr was born in 1961 in Alexandria, Egypt. He studied economics at university and began his art practice in the 1990s, gaining international recognition in 2001 when he won the Grand Prix at the Cairo Biennial. Using sculpture, video, and site-specific installations, he explores the tensions between tradition and the complex sociopolitical developments currently underway in the Islamic world. His work is firmly rooted in his own geographical origins, but his investigations into philosophical, historical, and political issues extend beyond Africa to engage with other places, times, and cultures.

His most recent solo shows have been held at Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy (2022); North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh (2021); and Castel del Monte, Andria, Italy (2019). Recent group exhibitions include Truc à Faire, Galleria Continua, Paris, Seeing & Perceiving, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), Dhahran, and the Macao Biennale (2021); 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Marrakech, and Orientalismos, IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern) (2020); and the Havana Biennial (2019). He was selected to represent Egypt at the Venice Biennale in 2017, and in 2021 won the AVIFF-Cannes Art Film Festival Award for his original film The Mountain.