Shaima Dief

Shaima Dief, born and raised in Dubai (1984), moved to Egypt to study art. Dief obtained her Doctoral Degree from the Bauhaus Universität Weimar, and her Master's degree from Hochschule Merseburg, University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Germany. Dief’s career in academia started as an instructor in the Arts department at the German University in Cairo. Then she continued her journey as an academic at the Bauhaus Universität Weimar.

Dief has exhibited widely in Egypt and Germany. Dief had Solo exhibitions locally in Leipzig, Ägyptisches Museum der Universität Leipzig, Potemka Gallery, and Irrgang Gallery. Dief’s paintings were nominated to be exhibited at Nord Art 2018 in Büdelsdorf, Germany. She also had Solo exhibitions in Cairo at Gallery Misr, and was nominated to exhibit her paintings in the Opera house in Cairo.

Dief’s impulsive work often utilizes themes and symbols from her Egyptian roots and upbringing in Dubai. She sees her art as a way to confront herself and the societies she has found herself in. Dief is consumed with the idea of the human-animal hybrid. This duality of humankind; that humans can be more when mixed with animal characteristics, fascinates her and continually appears in her work. She sees this anthropomorphism as a form of mask; something to hide behind but simultaneously allowing privacy.
Her current work focuses on the symbols and figures of ancient Egypt. Dief plays with historic notions of gender and how they have altered in the modern day. Cultural memory also plays a big role for Shaima Dief. Through pharaonic symbols, Egyptian heritage is explored but in an alternative setting. Manipulation of ancient and long established imagery is not intended to critique but to explore their new role in modern society.