A State of Contradiction, 2003

Paintings and drawings, oil on canvas, oil pastel on paper, various sizes
2003
Photography: Bassem Yousri

A State of Contradiction was my first attempt to develop a personal visual language, made during my final year of undergraduate study. Alongside formalistic concerns, socio-political questions had begun to occupy me. The work responds to a contradiction I was sensing around me at the time: the simultaneous rise of a conservative Islamic current and the perceived spread of American culture into other parts of Egyptian society. For me, this tension pointed to a deeper question — one I have continued to pursue since: the definition of an Egyptian identity that has been shaped and reshaped across thousands of years.