Mohammed Abou El-Naga is an Egyptian visual artist, educator, curator, and cultural developer whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, installation, video, and papermaking. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts and holds a PhD in Philosophy of Art from Alexandria University. His sustained research into paper as both material and cultural practice led him to become the first artist from the Middle East to receive a Japan Foundation grant to study the art of papermaking in Japan.
Abou El-Naga has exhibited extensively in Egypt and internationally. He represented Egypt at the Venice Biennale in 2002 and was awarded First Prize at the Alexandria Biennale in 2001. Alongside his artistic practice, he has played an active role as a curator, notably organizing the Artist Book Biennial at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2002 and serving as curator of the 25th Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries in 2009.
He is also the founder of Elnafeza for Contemporary Art & Development, an initiative dedicated to reviving traditional papermaking within rural Egyptian communities. Through the transformation of agricultural waste into handmade paper, the organization connects artistic production with environmental sustainability, craft preservation, and employment opportunities for local communities.
