Fathi Hassan was born in Cairo. His family had been forced to leave Nubia when the Aswan High Dam was built in 1952. In his early twenties, he obtained a grant from the Italian Cultural Institute and moved to Naples, where he enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti. He graduated in 1984 with a thesis on the influence of African art in Cubism and he continued to live in Italy for many years.
Fathi was one of the first African and Arab artists to exhibit in the Venice Biennial in 1988 and has participated in numerous solo and group shows
internationally.
Fathi's Nubian heritage is a core feature of both his personal identity and his artistic practice. His lived experience also plays out in his works, which literally layer on Nubian icons such as the extinct ibex, warriors, houses, pots, and boats; fabric from his family members' clothes; and ephemera from his travels, such as train tickets and super market receipts.
Fathi has also had to continually confront his own identity as a person existing between and among cultures. White or black, Christian or Muslim, Nubian or Arab: the artist has been confronted with this parties demanding that he assume or explain a particular identity, as well as his personal questing to decide what he is or is not, and whether it matters.
