Egyptian-Lebanese visual artist Bahia Shehab has become the first Arab woman to ever receive the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture for her innovative use of Arabic calligraphy in street art. “The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, will award the 14th edition of the UNESCO Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture to an Egyptian artist, Bahia Shehab, the first woman from the Arab region to receive this award,” UNESCO said in a statement a week ago. The award ceremony of the Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture will take place on 18 April at UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris. Established in 1998, the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture awards those whose achievements promote a greater understanding of Arab art and culture as part of UNESCO’s greater mission to foster cross-cultural exchange. Two laureates are selected each year by the director-general of UNESCO, with recommendations from a jury of experts in the field of Arab art and culture.

Source: Egypt Independent March 31, 2017 15:33 UTC