 | Born on 19 November 1924 in Cairo, Egypt, Hamed Nada was one of the leading figures of Egyptian modern art and a member of the Egyptian "Group of Contemporary Art". After joining the "Group of Contemporary Art" together with artists such as Abdel Hadi el-Gazzar, Ibrahim Massouda and Samir Rafi, Nada studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, where he graduated in 1951. In 1957, he was appointed at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria. In 1961, he was named professor at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo and became the head of its Painting Department in 1977. He was one of the first Egyptian painters to introduce symbolism in his work that was influenced by Ancient Egyptian art and popular traditions. Nada died on 27 May 1990 in Cairo, Egypt.
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 | Shirin Neshat was born on 26 March 1957 in the city of Qazvin, Northwest Iran. She currently lives and works in New York, USA. Neshat relies fundamentally on photographic and film media to create her ideas and her artistic projects, where she combines in her photographic works both well-known techniques in that medium, and handwritten calligraphy with ink on printed images. Neshat also produces short cinematic films and video films, where sound techniques play a major role next to the image. Neshat always focuses in her work on the expressive and symbolic characteristics of black and white, along with shades of grey. She blends contemporary visual concepts with Eastern literary heritage, especially Persian poetry. Her works and many of her exhibitions can be seen in institutions including Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
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