Dr. Andrew Gayed is Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at OCAD 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 among other areas of study. Before joining OCADU, Dr. Gayed was the Visiting Global 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. The 2018 Osgoode Law research fellow in Transnationalism and Human rights, Gayed has been the recipient of notable awards including two SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Awards and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Dr. Gayed’s scholarship has appeared in books, including the Routledge Handbook of Middle Eastern Diasporas, and peer-reviewed journals including Journal for Studies in Art Education, and the Journal of Anthropology of Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia. 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 will transform our understanding of queerness and multiculturalism. With an emphasis on decolonial politics, this book illuminates the unexpected history of homosexuality in the Middle East as a way of better understanding the issues today that queer diasporic people of colour face.