Nada Elkalaawy is an Egyptian-born, London-based artist who grew up between both cultures. She received her MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2018 and her BA in Fine Art from Kingston University in 2016. Her practice is informed by her personal history dealing with loss, traces of memories and fiction. She works predominantly in painting but she also often incorporates drawing, animation and tapestry projects in conversation with the painterly medium.

The compositions in her work combine elements taken from several photographs, intertwining multiple temporalities and localities with purely imaginary details. The individual components of the work may be realistically depicted, but the overall scene is not a plausible depiction of a real moment; they can be lifelike, satirised or romanticised and there is usually a psychological insight into the subject matter.