Welcome to

Fathi Hassan

I use writing as a visual element, not for reading.

“I am not interested in the style of writing or its meaning, but in the shape of the written words and the mysteries behind them.”

Fathi Hassan

About Me

I am an Italian artist of Egyptian heritage with Nubian roots, born in Cairo in 1957. My work explores themes of memory, migration, and lost languages through painting, photography, installation, and calligraphy-inspired forms. Influenced by the displacement of Nubian communities after the construction of the Aswan High Dam, I create symbolic, often illegible scripts that reflect the erasure of oral histories and cultural identities.

After Studying at the naples art school in italy

continued working internationally before settling in Edinburgh, Scotland. My artworks have been exhibited globally and are held in major collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.

Selected Artwork

Notable Exhibitions

Browse original artworks and prints in the shop, or find out when Fathi Hassan is showing next.

2023

London, UK

Richard Saltoun Gallery

1995

Washington ,DC

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

2023

Sharjah,UAE

5th Sharjah Biennale

2015

MASSACHUSETTS

Williams College musuem of art

"Fathi Hassan’s work is not about copying or creating derivatives of others’ art. It is about creating an identity — the process of becoming unique."

Rose Eissa Exhibitions curator

“an artist whose practice bridges multiple artistic histories. Rather than fitting into a single national or regional tradition, his work combines Nubian heritage, Arabic calligraphic traditions, African visual culture, and contemporary European abstraction."

Kathleen Goncharov Author

“They condense, within their peoples, the condition of absolute suffering of a culture, the African, profound and highly symbolic…”

Achille Bonito Oliva Italian art critic and historian

“There is always one constant: a vibrancy running through the works.”

Melissa Gronlund Writer

“Hassan transforms writing into a visual language that invites viewers to reflect on migration, memory, and representation rather than search for literal meaning."