Omar Kholeif

Omar Kholeif is an artist, curator and writer born in Cairo, Egypt, to an Egyptian and Sudanese family, with a studio in London since 2020. Kholeif's paintings assemble abstract, body-like forms into bright fields of colour. Each painting, whatever its size, is made over at least a year.

Kholeif was raised in Glasgow. Kholeif studied politics, film and fine art at schools including the University of Glasgow, the Royal College of Art and the University of Reading. For over two decades Kholeif has worked through avatars and heteronyms. Early moving-image works were broadcast on Channel 4 and the BBC.

Kholeif is Professor of Global Art Theory and Practice at the Glasgow School of Art. Earlier roles include Director of Collections and Senior Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation. Kholeif was also Manilow Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and a curator at Whitechapel Gallery, London. Fellow Travellers, which Kholeif curated at Tabari Artspace, Dubai, in 2026, presents the paintings under Kholeif's own name for the first time.