Fathi Hassan (b. 1957, Cairo, Egypt) is a pioneering Nubian artist whose practice spans drawing, painting, mixed media, and installation. Born to Nubian and Egyptian parents, Hassan’s work is deeply shaped by the forced displacement of his family from their ancestral land due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. This early experience of cultural fragmentation and migration forms the foundation of his artistic inquiry, where he examines themes of memory, language, exile, and the erasure of African and Nubian histories.

Hassan studied set design at the Naples Art School in Italy, graduating in 1984. Shortly after, he gained international recognition when he became one of the first African and Arab artists to exhibit outside of national pavilions at the 43rd Venice Biennale (1988). Since then, his career has flourished across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, with major solo and group exhibitions in institutions such as the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the Sharjah Art Foundation. His work has also been showcased at the Liverpool Bluecoat Arts Centre, the Clark Museum of Atlanta, the Egyptian Museum of Fine Arts, and the Cairo International Biennale, among many others.

A defining element of Hassan’s practice is his use of language, particularly his distinctive, calligraphic scripts that merge recognizable Arabic and Kufic forms with invented, abstract text. These scripts, often unreadable, serve as a metaphor for lost or suppressed histories and the fragility of oral traditions in the face of colonial erasure. His works, whether drawn on paper, painted on canvas, or layered onto textured surfaces, evoke the rhythmic flow of storytelling, where meaning is both concealed and revealed through gestures of mark-making.

Hassan’s approach to materiality is also significant—his use of earthy pigments, coffee-stained papers, recycled textiles, and layered surfaces mirrors the historical palimpsests of Nubian and African cultures. His compositions are at once poetic and political, reflecting on the intersections of heritage, displacement, and the resilience of cultural identity.

His contributions to contemporary African and diasporic art have been widely recognized. His work has been featured in influential anthologies such as African Artists: From 1882 to Now (Phaidon, 2021) and Lumieres Africaines (Langages du Sud, 2018). Scholars and curators such as Rose Issa, Achille Bonito Oliva, and Maurita Poole have written extensively about his practice.

Now based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hassan continues to expand his exploration of diasporic consciousness, language, and memory, offering deeply meditative and visually striking works that challenge dominant narratives and celebrate the enduring presence of Nubian culture.