390. Nabil Mousa: Artist

Born in Syria to a Christian family in 1966, Nabil Mousa emigrated to the United States with his family at the age of 12. After a career in business, in the 2000s he turned to the visual arts, particularly painting. This decision coincided with two important events, one public and one personal: first, the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. were a seminal moment in U.S. and global history. The fall of the twin towers ushered in an era of stigmatization and suspicion of people of Arab backgrounds, particularly in Western countries, as well as an on-going period of religious fundamentalism and intolerance. Second, when he decided to no longer live as a closeted gay man, Mousa came out to his family—resulting in his family rejecting him.

Much of Mousa’s work reflects directly or indirectly on these personally significant events and have been springboards for his ongoing commitment to arts activism in the name of social justice. Paralleling these efforts, he has drawn upon his ability as a colorist and gestural abstractionist to investigate concepts of beauty, often inspired by Arab visual culture.