Growing up as an adamant believer in Spider Man and Grendizer, a basketball and football player, a fan of the arts including anime, comics, Sci-Fi movies, techno music and horror novels, Fawaz considers himself a creative mind with a passion for art expression. His work represents over 14 years of experience in electronic arts, branding, web and advertising design; photography, music, video and writing stories are his latest passions. He has worked in various advertising agencies and design firms as a senior designer. He studied at the art institute International (Pittsburgh, PA) and majored in Visual communication. Born in 1977, into a family of artists in Bahrain has helped him understand the world from a different perspective. It was at the age of 10, that he got his first sign and found his new direction in life as a graphic artist. By the age of 11, Fawaz was a certified Apple user and a year later became the first to teach Canvas 1 in the center. He still owns his first Mac LC. (www.fawazalolaiwat.com)

Heavy metal band The Mushroom Massacre pulls its influences from real life, and creates what cannot BE found in Bahrain. As for the slightly disturbing name, it stems from the fact that just like the mushroom, they thrive underground.

Formed in 2004 by Indian musicians Ryan, PJ, Patson, and Sash, the head-bashing group has recorded one demo and is currently writing new material with the aim of recording their first full-length EP in 2008.

Completing the group is Pakistani rapper Marwan “MoneyMar” Ul-Haq, the youngest member of the posse. Raised with strong family values, MoneyMar began honing his musical talent at a very, very young age (he’s still pretty young).

Although cultural barriers often arose in his earlier attempts to be a recording artist and entertainer, perseverance eventually won through. Taking his cue from mentors Dboy and Hotline, his name Marwan morphed into “MoneyMar” and today he is working towards becoming a fully-fledged artist - once school is out.

If determination and motivation had a name and a face, they would definitely look like Hotline. Born Richmond Shaw in a poor, drug-riddled neighbourhood in the US, he has overcome numerous obstacles to become the international recording artist he is today.

He discovered his natural ability to write songs while still at school, perhaps influenced by the fact that his mother used to be a backup singer for several groups during the 70s. He joined the US Armed Forces after high school and was soon sent to the Gulf region. During this time he performed for several news crews, and was a poster child for the Oscar-nominated movie documentary “Gunner Palace”.

He returned to the US briefly, but soon found his way back to the region as a musical civilian. He views the vitality of the music scene in Bahrain as fertile ground for new innovations in cross-cultural rap.

With a Bahraini Muslim father and a Christian mother from the West, DBoy has a unique insight into cross-cultural nuances, which flavours the original hip-hop tracks he writes and performs. Although writing was never a spirited attribute amongst family, DBoy was blessed from a young age with the ability to portray emotions, experiences and strong opinions through lyrics and music.

In 2005, he ventured into production, and today, his name is synonymous with the Bahraini hip-hop scene. Apart from releasing two CD’s, he has performed live across the island and aims to become a musical force throughout the region - and beyond.

Ala Ghawas’s interest in music started to show when he was just eight years old playing the accordion and keyboard at school. In his teens, he graduated to the piano and acoustic guitar and, having discovered his mellow voice along the way, recently brought out his debut album “Hums”.

Influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd, the album is suffused with whispers of nostalgia and has won the singer/songwriter high praise and good sales on the Bahrain market. Ala recently completed his Masters in Advertising at Boston’s Emerson College and currently works in the field. But, we’re convinced it won’t be long before he’s swapped copywriting for song-writing full-time. We certainly hope so.

As a young boy, Mohammed’s passion for movies led him to get a job as an usher at a cinema, and he watched films over and over again, studying the elements that made them work. Now a law graduate in his 20s, he has put what he learnt into practice writing and directing several short movies, the latest of which, “Absence”, has been shortlisted for an award at Dubai’s upcoming Film Festival.

Produced in Arabic with English subtitles, “Absence” is a beautiful and moving exploration of the isolation of the elderly. Mohammed is currently juggling his professional career with several projects, including a commission to produce his first feature-length movie.

Since acquiring her degree in architecture from the Lebanese American University, Carla has worked in the US and the Arabian Gulf, two contrasting environments that she says have influenced both her professional life and her sideline in experimental photography.

Her eye for line and form so essential to her work is evident in her photos too, but she can and does exercise more freedom here – to visually dramatic effect.

French-born photographer Simon Chauvin is based in Saudi Arabia, but he regularly hops across the border to shoot for Bahrain magazines, such as “Ohlala”. His interest in photography was ignited during a round-the-world trip in 2005 (India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, USA) and he decided to take it professional.

Not surprisingly, given his penchant for travel, Simon favours landscape photography, but he also takes a good portrait. He is currently exploring the world of off-camera flash lighting and planning a photography trip to Jordan.

Sheyma enjoys working in high colour using photomontage and freehand drawing to enhance her photos. A native of Bahrain, she has lived more than half her life in other countries and her work reminisces about old Bahraini icons, places and styles that she’d like to remember and preserve.

A collection of her photographs was recently exhibited at an exhibiton entitled “Lounaine” (Two Colours) in Doha.