Cover Art Concept

Born in Al-Haffah, north of Lattakia [in Syria]," the pioneering modernist Leila Nseir (1941–2023) "began drawing at the age of 14. She received a government scholarship to study in Egypt and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1963" (Atassi Foundation n.d.).

Nseir is known for her superb drafting, in addition to her reinterpretation of historical forms as a means of depicting reality. Initially finding artistic inspiration in the Middle East's ancient civilizations, Nseir often employed mythology as an allegory for life and later worked in realism, expressionism, surrealism, and even abstraction, all while experimenting with various media and techniques.

Nseir's artworks are experiments of line, color, and depth. She finds fragmentation and fission in shapes, drawing as if seeing her subjects through a shattered mirror or a kaleidoscope. She is known for centering women in her artwork, and the formation of her personas is governed by the androgynous overlap of masculinity and femininity. These personas are holy and pagan mythological characters at the same time. They converge and diverge in an expression of impossible connection. Nseir traps her personas in rectangular cells that resemble iconic division.

In early 2024 the Atassi Gallery Archive and the Mahmoud Hammad Archive announced the launch of the Leila Nseir archival collection. It consists of 478 documents, mostly in Arabic, divided into seven main folders: press clippings (178), documents (12), exhibition materials (21), letters (3), photos (226), writings (15), recordings (23) (all these materials are available on request).