The Parliament of the Revolution, 2012

Mixed-media (wall drawing and digital video projection)
Shift Delete 30 group exhibition, Saad Zaghloul Center, Cairo
2012

The Parliament of the Revolution was my first participation in the Egyptian art scene after returning from five years in the USA. I came back to Cairo in October 2010 intending to settle, and within months — in January 2011 — the revolution erupted, and its momentum took over everything.

I created this work in response to the political turmoil of that period, in anticipation of the first parliamentary elections to take place after the revolution. Confusion, uncertainty, and ideological collision dominated society; I was entirely consumed by the political moment and compelled to respond to it.

The exhibition was held at Saad Zaghloul Center, a government-run art center — which I saw as an opportunity to critique the institution from within, an endeavor I expanded on later in The Official Institution.