Hefuna was born in Egypt in 1962 to an Egyptian father and a German mother. She connects her Egyptian and German roots in her work, using the urban imagery, typography and traditions of both to build a bridge between the two cultures. She works in a variety of media, including drawing, photography, sculpture, installation, video and performance. She lives and works between Cairo, Egypt and Germany.

Hefuna is fascinated by the networks and structures of connection that inhabit public spaces and how they become the framework for peoples’ interactions with each other, in particular how these networks become visible through and influenced by architectural models and city planning. She has participated in both international and local exhibitions such as: New York, Germany, Abu Dhabi, London, and Los Angeles. In 1998, Hefuna was awarded the International Award at the Cairo Bienniale. In 2013 she was awarded the Contemporary Drawing Prize by the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Foundation in Paris.