Amer is an artist known for her sex and religion-themed embroidery.

Born in Egypt, Amer moved to Paris in the 1970s, but it was while visiting her parents in Cairo that she was struck by the clash of Western styles and Islamic dress in fashion magazines and became interested in textile art. In 1996, Amer decamped to New York, trading one of her works for legal assistance in getting a green card. She soon attracted attention for her series of embroideries, which reproduced images from pornographic photos (often juxtaposed with Disney characters) in an exploration of female sexuality, and for her provocative text-based installations. Like many budding art stars, Amer participated in both the first P.S.1 "Greater New York" show and the Whitney Biennial in 2000. Although she only had her first solo exhibition in 2004 at Larry Gagosian's Beverly Hills gallery, she's already earned a major retrospective, a 2008 show at the Brooklyn Museum called "Ghada Amer: Love Has No End." Although she is best known for her work with embroidery, she considers herself a multimedia artist and has dabbled with sculpture, painting, and performance art. [Image via Getty]