Hometown: Orlando, Florida; Casablanca, Morocco

Research Interests: Contemporary Arab art; museum education, exhibitions, and cultural diplomacy in the Arabian Peninsula; spatial and cultural anthropology; and Digital Humanities research tools

Nada Ammagui graduated from NYU Abu Dhabi in 2020 with a B.A. in Arab Crossroads Studies and minors in Art History and Arabic. Throughout her undergraduate career, Nada focused on cultural, social, and art historical topics in the MENA region, with an undergraduate thesis on the use of historical architectural and spatial narratives at the Sharjah Biennial exhibition in Sharjah, UAE. Through internships in the Islamic Art Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, in Education and Outreach at the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, and at the NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, Nada gained practical experience in the fields of Arab art and museum practice. Before joining MAAS, Nada was a Postgraduate Research Fellow in the Arts & Humanities at NYU Abu Dhabi conducting quantitative, geospatial research on the Sharjah Biennial to investigate the prioritization of local cultural initiatives by the Sharjah government. This work resulted in the creation of data-driven visualizations of the exhibition’s growth over time. She also wrote periodic articles on regional cultural matters for Global Art Daily and on Digital Humanities research on her own blog. At MAAS, Nada looks forward to combining her interests in Digital Humanities methodologies with research on contemporary cultural initiatives in the Gulf, while mingling with the broader DC community of Arab art enthusiasts.