If successful in receiving the bursary, I would use the funding to support the production of a new body of work comprising paintings and small tapestries that explore themes of absence, traces of memory, recollection, and transience. This prize would allow me to dedicate focused time and resources to developing the project, including the purchase of high-quality materials and contributing towards studio rent. It would enable me to fully concentrate on my studio practice, which is currently constrained by the need to take on part-time work to support my artistic production. The bursary would relieve some of these financial pressures, allowing me to work more consistently and deeply on the development of this series.
The funds would also enable me to experiment at a larger scale and with more ambitious techniques—particularly in developing layered paintings that incorporate the concept of pentimento, where past images and gestures are partially visible beneath new surfaces. This process mirrors the way memories are held: fragmented, altered, and never entirely erased. I often rework old paintings or use my abandoned/failed canvases as starting points, allowing ghostly traces of earlier versions to remain, creating a sense of emotional tension and temporal ambiguity in the final work.
Alongside the paintings, I intend to create a series of handwoven tapestries. While the materials and pace of production differ from painting, the conceptual concerns remain deeply interconnected. Weaving becomes a physical manifestation of time, repetition, and care, each thread a record of presence and process. Where painting allows for erasure and reimagining, weaving allows for slow accumulation. Together, these mediums will offer contrasting yet complementary reflections on how memory is stored, altered, and embodied.
This funding would significantly advance my practice by giving me the means to take creative risks and invest in the depth and scale of this work. It would also support the presentation of the project through documentation and exhibition. I hope to create a cohesive and emotionally resonant body of work that expands on my longstanding interest in the intersection of material process, memory, and emotional landscape, one that moves my practice forward both technically and conceptually.
My work explores the emotional resonance of memory, absence, and the passage of time through art making. I’m interested in how materials, can become vessels for remembrance, creating spaces where personal and collective histories intersect. Through layering, reworking, and weaving, my practice invites viewers to slow down and engage with images that hold both presence and loss.
If awarded the Dover Prize, I would aim to connect with Darlington’s community through workshops, open studios, and talks that share not only the final work but also the intimate, process-led nature of making. These activities would offer accessible ways for people to reflect on their own experiences of memory and place.
Memory is a universal theme that resonates across different audiences. Painting, as a historically familiar and visually accessible medium, allows me to work with imagery drawn from domestic objects, archival fragments, and symbolic motifs. These elements are reimagined to spark curiosity while leaving space for interpretation. I aim to create scenes that are emotionally charged yet open-ended, balancing familiarity with mystery. I believe this visual language will resonate with both art goers and the wider public in Darlington, encouraging reflection, imagination, and connection.
My practice is rooted in painting but extends into drawing, animation, and textile work. Influenced by personal experiences of loss and memory, I use image-making as a way to reflect on attachment, identity, and the blurred lines between truth and fiction. The process of making is introspective and layered, functioning as a way of reconstructing fleeting recollections and visualising mental images. My works often straddle the familiar and the surreal—what appears decorative or playful at first glance gradually reveals deeper emotional undercurrents related to grief, desire, and the passage of time. I begin by collecting and researching found imagery—family photographs, art historical references, porcelain figurines, and internet-sourced material. These fragments serve as the foundation for my paintings, which are built up in layers, allowing traces of past versions to remain visible. This approach draws on the concept of pentimento, where previous compositions subtly re-emerge, creating ghostly, ephemeral surfaces. In this sense, the work is an archive in motion—an evolving cabinet of curiosities made up of imagined and remembered scenes. Motifs such as putti, ceramic animals, tureens, and other ornamental housewares recur in my practice. These objects—once considered decorative or mundane—are magnified, animated, and treated with reverence, becoming vessels for emotion and memory. I am drawn to their ambiguous presence: simultaneously lifeless and lifelike, endearing yet uncanny. Recent exhibitions include my solo show “Object of Attention” at Gypsum gallery in Cairo, Condo London at Union Pacific gallery, and group shows at Woaw gallery in Hong Kong, Half gallery in New York, The Africa Centre in London and Marlborough gallery in London.
Yes, I received my MFA in Fine Art Painting from the Slade school of Fine Art in 2018 and my BA in Fine Arts with first-class honours from Kingston University in 2016.
Yes below is a list of awards and grants that I was awarded and/or was a finalist in:
2023 Regional Training and Events – AFAC (LB) as K-oh-llective
2022 ACS Studio Prize – Artists Collecting Society (UK) shortlist
Sainsbury Scholarship – British School at Rome (IT) shortlist
Contemporary British Painting Prize – CBP (UK) Longlist
The Waverton Art Prize – Boisdale (UK) shortlist
2020 Self Organisations Grant – Mophradat (BE) as K-oh-llective
2018 4th Frase Got Talent prize – Frase Contemporary (IT) shortlist
Dentons Art Prize 7.0 (UK) shortlist
Sarabande Emerging Artist Fund (UK) shortlist
2017 Highly Commended award – 21st National Open Art Moving Image (UK)
Frase Got Talent Prize (IT) shortlist
Ruth Borchard self-portrait prize (UK) shortlist
Yes, I am co-founder of artist group “K-oh-llective”, a group of five visual artists dedicated to fostering collective conversations around art practices. Our platform serves as a resource-sharing hub for artists, writers, and curators, particularly in Egypt and the Arab world, offering tools such as an open-source library, podcasts, texts, and discussions. We also organise online and offline studio visits to encourage art-making and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
We are currently working on a project titles “Arab Artists Now: An Anthology” which connects emerging artists with curators and writers in the Arab region. The visits are to encourage cross-disciplinary intergenerational dialogue between art practitioners, bridge geographical barriers and connect practices. The virtual/physical studio visits will culminate in a publication of texts and discussions weaving reflections from the curator with recordings, images, and work processes of the artists. The goal is to also widen the reach and exposure of art coming out the MENA region to international audiences and discourses.
Yes I have been commissioned by the National Trust to make work in response to 575 Wandsworth road. I was also commissioned by Liverpool Arab Arts festival as part of COP26 to make work addressing climate change.
Yes my works are in the X Museum Collection (China) and Soho House Collection (UK)
Yes, below is a selected list of publications and press where my work has been reviewed/featured:
2025 Takes on: Condo 2025 – (Frieze London)
Creatives of Culture – (Divaz Magazine 2025 Issue)
Regional art shows to look out for in February-March 2025 – (Dazed Middle East)
Thoughts: Nada Elkalaawy ‘Object of Attention – Sorcha Richardson on Substack
2024 The Anomie Review of Contemorary British Painting III – (Anomie Publishing)
2023 Maybe We’e in a Bad Marriage, K-oh-llective – (NO NIIN Volume II)
2022 Squatting the Internet, K-oh-llective – (Rehearsing Hospitalities 4)
2021 A Guest in Bern – Interview with Nada Elkalaawy (Kunstmuseum Bern)
2019 The Wing: Inside London’s newest members club for women – (Evening Standard)
2018 Visualising the invisible: Arab women artists reveal untold stories – (Middle East Eye)
Awan: Perpetual movement – (Wall Street International)
Perpetual movement, March 2018 issue – (Vogue Arabia)
Arab Women Artists Now festival – (Sky News Arabia)
2015 10 Egyptian Artists You Should Know About – (Egypt Today Magazine)
Yes, I am represented by Gypsum Gallery in Cairo
Yes, below are a list of residencies that I was selected for, as well as being shortlisted for the Sainsbury scholarship at the prestigious British School of Rome residency
2022 Montresso Art Foundation artist residency, Marrakech (Morocco)
2021 Pro Helvetia Studio Residency, PROGR, Bern (Switzerland)
2020 L’appartement 22 Artist-in-residence, Rabat (Morocco)
2019 MASS Alexandria independent studio programme, Alexandria (Egypt)
2017 Artist-in-residence at L’Atelier D’Alexandrie, Alexandria (Egypt)
Email: nadaelkalaawy@yahoo.co.uk
Address: flat 1, 101 Greencroft Gardens, London, NW6 3PG, GB
Local Authority: London borough of Camden
