Bassem Yousri

Biography

Bassem Yousri is a visual artist and independent filmmaker. In his multidisciplinary practice, he works in a variety of forms, including mixed media installation, public and street art, awareness campaigns, experimental videos and documentary films. Yousri’s work adopts a documentary style inspired by the narrative quality of Ancient Egyptian murals. While his work is often a commentary on contemporary Egyptian social and political conditions, his concerns as an artist also speak to the human condition, investigating issues such as cross-cultural dialogue, stereotypes, taboos, mass culture and the relationship between art and audience.

His work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally. Selected solo and group exhibitions of his work include Le Theoreme de Nefertiti, l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2013); The Official Institution, Gezira Art Center, Cairo (2013) Tea with Nefertiti, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2012) and Manifesta Biennial, Murcia, Spain (2010).

Yousri was the recipient of a Fulbright Arts Grant in 2006, and an AFAC Express grant in 2012. Additionally, he is the recipient of several artist-in-residence fellowships organised by Arte East in New York, 2016; Vermont Studio Center, CITY, 2013; Kansas State University, CITY, 2011 and Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California, 2010.

Bassem Yousri was born in Algeria in 1980 and raised in Cairo, where he currently lives and works. He received his BFA in painting from the School of Fine Arts – Helwan University, Cairo in 2003, and his MFA in painting, drawing and sculpture from Tyler School of Art – Temple University, Philadelphia in 2009.