Rafa Nasiri was born in Iraq 1940. Graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad,with a diploma in painting in 1959. From 1959 to 1963, he studied printmaking at Central Academy of Fine Arts, in Beijing, receiving a BA in the subject. In 1969, he received a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation to study at The Gravura, Lisbon, receiving a diploma in printmaking the same year. Nasiri has also written many essays and books on modern Iraqi art. He exhibited his work extensively throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia.