Nasri Atallah

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ARNO LAM FASHION & STYLING BY SARAH CAZENEUVE It’s a funny business writing a magazine profile. You’re in a person’s life for an hour or two, you try to understand as much about them as you can. Then you both move on to the next thing.…

Palestinian artist Dima Srouji teaches at the Royal College of Art, just completed a fellowship at the Victoria & Albert Museum, is the founder of Hollow Forms and has exhibits on in Jeddah, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. She invited Esquire Middle East into…

Nataly Aukar hasn’t made things easy for herself – deciding to leave Beirut and make it as a stand-up comedian based in New York City. But the gamble seems to have paid off. She’s opened for Ramy Youssef, Mo Amer and Gad Elmaleh, she was part of the…

How does she find the time? Somehow, between being president of the Sharjah Art Foundation, the Africa Institute, Sharjah Architecture Triennial and the International Biennale Association, Hoor Al Qasimi manages to be creative director of one of the…

Nobu needs no introduction. The name is synonymous with cutting-edge Japanese style fused with South American influences, including now-legendary (and much imitated) classics such as Black Cod seared and served with sweet miso sauce. 14 years after…

It’s late afternoon as I pull up to a traffic light in Dubai Marina. I hear the polite beep of a car horn to my right – not the kind used to warn or insult, rather the kind meant to call your attention. Morse code for ‘hey’. I turn and two men in the…

Last month Dina Amer was featured in the Esquire 40, a list of Arabs making an impact on global film and television. It’s no wonder: her debut feature, You Resemble Me, premiered at the 78th Venice where it was nominated for Giornate degli Autori.…

When we settle down to talk, Marwan Moussa is in his studio in Maadi, a leafy suburban neighborhood south of Cairo. The studio is in Moussa’s apartment. “It’s just a room,” he says laughing. But the music written and recorded in that room has taken…

I settle into my chair at a circular table with four strangers. We’re all tired – glancing at phones, avoiding being the first to engage in small talk. Then the first dish hits the table, a generous helping of pan con tomate. As we crunch into the…

“Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. But there is also another aspect in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words,…

Lebanese music producer and hitmaker Sleiman Damien has worked with some of the biggest names in Arab pop music, from Georges Wassouf to Haifa Wehbe. He’s also attracted to the region’s indie scene, working with Dana Hourani and Zef. Esquire Middle…

Valtteri Bottas is one of the most fun drivers on the F1 grid. Esquire Middle East caught up with him in Dubai where he was part of the presentation of a capsule collection for Web Eyewear in partnership with Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN. Esquire Middle…

There was a time when the word Hyundai conjured up images of affordable, reliable econobox. In a now famous print ad the company ran in the United States the copy stated “What a 12,000 dollar Hyundai looks like” with an image of two red cars piled on…

Noah Centineo stars in Netflix’s latest hit as a fresh-faced CIA lawyer who becomes entangled in a global web of criminal intrigue when a former asset (played by Laura Haddock) reaches out to the agency with a threat. The show has all your favourite…

The UAE is the country with the 3rd most skyscrapers after the United States and China. It’s hard to go a day in Dubai without finding yourself in one – whether it’s your office, your apartment or a restaurant. It can be enough to desensitize you to…

There hasn’t been a time in history when we’ve been more aware of our impact on the planet and the incredible amount of waste we produce. On any given day, you will come across a think piece, a documentary, a recycling bin or a friend reminding you…

This ‘A letter from the editor’ originally appeared in print in the December 2022 issue of Esquire Middle East. Look at us. We’ve made it to the end of yet another year. That’s an achievement in itself. So, well done you. You know, I often wonder…

When the Italian Grand Prix was moved from Brescia to Monza many people weren’t happy. A local legend has it that petrol runs through the veins of the people of Brescia instead of blood. Intense. You can see why they wouldn’t be happy. In the group…

Emirati entrepreneur and interviewer Anas Bukhash is at the top of his game. So, what makes him tick? I first met Anas Bukhash at a dinner in Dubai. As we sat across from each other, I knew I’d be interviewing him soon for this story, but he didn’t…

When I found out I was flying out to Doha to meet with David Beckham I was, as you might expect, excited. I was also very confused. What do you ask someone who has had such a long, successful career as a footballer, who has been a fixture of pop…