Gazbia Sirry (b. 1925 - d. 2021), born in Cairo, was a pioneering Egyptian painter whose work critically addressed questions of gender equality, social justice, and national identity. Raised by her widowed mother and divorced grandmother, Sirry was deeply influenced by the feminist struggles of her time. Educated in Cairo, Paris, Rome, and London, she challenged modernist conventions, merging local Egyptian art with a vibrant, symbolic style.

Her early work, characterised by bold black outlines and vibrant colours, drew from Pharaonic and Coptic traditions, reflecting a deep engagement with Egyptian heritage and nationalist themes. In the 1960s, following a fellowship at the Huntington Hartford Foundation in California, she embraced Abstract Expressionism, a shift inspired by both political unrest in Egypt and her exposure to American modernism. This period of her work is noted for its exploration of abstract forms and rich, emotive colour palettes.
Despite international recognition, including over seventy-five solo exhibitions worldwide, Sirry’s work remains under-studied.

Her paintings, housed in major collections like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Egyptian Modern Art Museum in Cairo, are more than aesthetic achievements; they are complex political statements. Gazbia Sirry’s legacy endures as a vital voice in modern Arab art, her work continuing to resonate as an urgent and contemporary political act.