Dr. Andrew Gayed is Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at Canada’s oldest and largest art education institution, OCAD University (Ontario College of Art and Design University) where he teaches courses on global contemporary art. An Egyptian-Canadian art historian, Dr. Gayed has an academic background in diasporic art, queer visual culture, and Middle Eastern art histories. Before joining OCADU, Dr. Gayed was the Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality where he researched the artistic practices of the queer diaspora. Gayed holds a PhD in Art History and Visual Culture from York University, an M.A. in Art History, and a B.F.A. in Visual Arts.

Gayed's research is located at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary and transnational inquiry in art history, gender studies, and critical race theory. Dr. Gayed’s scholarship has appeared in books, including the Routledge Handbook of Middle Eastern Diasporas, and Unsettling Canadian Art History, in addition to peer-reviewed journals including Journal for Studies in Art Education. Dr. Gayed’s first monograph, Queer World Making: Contemporary Middle Eastern Diasporic Art, published with the University of Washington Press (2024), shares innovative new research in visual art and culture that transforms our understanding of queerness and multiculturalism. Art Journal calls the book a raw and thoughtful exploration of the weight and dissonance of diasporic life; Hyperallergic commends Gayed for challenging Western mythologies around Arab and Muslim sexuality, offering a vital contribution to art history and queer visibility; and Brill’s Journal of Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas praises the book's political, aesthetic-driven art history, predicting it will become required reading across multiple disciplines. By studying contemporary art, Gayed’s book Queer World Making foregrounds decolonial politics and unexpected histories of homosexuality in the Middle East as a way of better understanding the issues today that queer diasporic people of color face.​​

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