This important and timely book offers the unique opportunity to look at contemporary art enriched by a multicultural experience and framed by a shared Arab identity. The work of 18 Arab women artists from around the world is collected together for the first time, challenging western stereotyping of the women's role in Arab society to brilliantly illustrate how women experience and question their lives as integral to the Arab diaspora.

In Contemporary Arab Women's Art, curators and scholars focus our attention on women working in an international arena as yet little known to the average art observer. By engaging us in a cross-cultural dialogue we not only grasp the diversity of the Arab experi-ence today but also the fresh perspective that each artist brings to key issues in contemporary art.

Fran Lloyd is Head of the School of Art and Design History at Kingston University.