Fresh look at contemporary Egyptian art

Now, My Favourite Things has become a permanent visual platform.

“The main purpose of the exhibition is to highlight the work of Egypt-based contemporary women artists and assist them in their artistic journey by providing technical and theoretical assistance from the realisation to the setup of the artwork,” said curator Stefania Angarano.

“The platform culminates in an annual exhibition where women artists freely express themselves and their concerns through their conceptually original and innovative artworks,” Angarano added in an interview with the Egyptian Mail.

“This year’s selection includes work by 13 women artists, mostly participating for the first time. Their contributions give the audience a refreshing idea about what is contemporary art in Egypt.

Angarano said these artists are the revelation of this season. The diverse and intriguing exhibition matches contrasting works, at times extravagant, at others minimalist, yet always surreal and metaphoric.

“There is no restriction to themes, as we seek authentic artwork that is most true, essentially reflecting subjects of great importance to the artists,” Angarano added.

Habiba Hazem expresses her appreciation for pets especially cats through her participation in ‘My Favourite Things’

“Making art makes me create the world I wish was real, painting cats in them because I believe they deserve a much better world than the one we live in,” Hazem said.

“In this series I painted cats alone on a canvas for everyone to put them in the world they see fit. In my artwork I see anxiety and exploration, I put rough brush strokes on a tranquil painting to give them a sense of reality by adding the brutality of the real world,” Hazem added.

Moving to another talent, and stopped by these black and white captivating works for the artist Yasmine Shash, who quit her job in international law and human rights in response to her desire to give her full time and energy for art.

The submitted collection is part of Retreat a continuous project which Shash has been working on since the end of 2019.

“In my retreat in my studio, the only choice I had was to trust the process of looking within the walls of my studio and within me to find and articulate what has been waiting to be expressed. I look closer at my immediate surroundings, I look closer at my volatile emotional states and I look closer at the mundane objects around me, and through them, I express, sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly this transformation I go through,”said Shash.

Shash experiments with drawing, relief printmaking and oil painting a minimalistic artistic approach to match the stillness and peace characteristic of the journey into retreat.

“This project, in all its components, is an attempt to engage this experience of the retreat, with all its uncertainties artistically,” Shash told this paper.

‘My Favourite Things’ runs until November 26 at the Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art, 15 Mahmoud Bassiouny Street, downtown Cairo.