Omar Zingaro Bhatia of the MacIntosh clan, so he claims, is of Indo-African and Canadian descent. He was born on a cool spring morning in the year 1986 in the north of Scotland. After his birth he grew up on a nature reserve known only as ‘Insh Marshes’ in the Highlands until he moved with his family to a range of mountains along the Great Rift Valley in Tanzania, East Africa.

Between the ages of 8-11 Omar absorbed the darker side of Africa and carried this 3 year experience back to the UK within him, the mark of which can be seen in his work. After a time lost in the Great British education system, it became apparent that Omar’s only chance was Art School. During his controversial time at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design he escaped on an ‘Erasmus’ exchange to Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania (Romania).

After months spent in the cafes and women of Transylvania he was summoned back to his course at D.O.J, threatened with the risk of failure, and unapologetically returned with a truly pitiful amount of work. He later claimed that the experience was ‘invaluable’ and produced a fairly well received book called ‘Refugee of Reality'. Omar's degree show was selected in the top 20 (2009) by Art World magazine.