Debunking Orientalism: A Group Show of Contemporary Artists from Egypt Opening Reception

SYRA Arts and The Untitled Space are pleased to present the group show, “Debunking Orientalism,” featuring works by emerging and established artists who live and work out of Egypt, from Cairo, Beheira, Sohag and Alexandria. The show will run from April 13^th – 16^th, 2016. Artists include: Ahmed Morsi, Adel El Siwi, Armen Agop,Essam Darwish, Farouk Hosny, Galila Nawar, Marwa Adel, Mina Nasr, Mohamed Ardash, Muhammad Mahdy,Ramses Marzouk, and Yasser Rostom. Additionally the exhibit will be showcasing jewelry by acclaimed designerAzza Fahmy.

The exhibition offers a window onto a landscape comprised of a multiplicity of approaches, styles and engagements by artists working simultaneously and engaging with various narratives within the art scene in Egypt. In recent years, the art of the region has been subject to a cultural clustering which effectively flattens the varied artistic production by viewing it as contingent upon geopolitical context. Egypt’s long history with Orientalism has subjected it to both internal and external visual paradigms that epistemologically cling to such Eurocentric notions.

The diversity of artists represented in this show celebrates the pluralism and dynamism of the contemporary Egyptian art scene. The works resonate locally and internationally, without necessarily pandering to the model of ‘hybridity,’ which has been a favored mode through which to view regional art – as operating in a liminal space between East and West. Some of the artists work out of Egypt, whilst some engage directly with their surroundings, and others create an altogether unique visual vernacular.