AL QAHIRA: IMAGES OF CAIRO

A selection of photographs by four contemporary Egyptian artists:
Nabil Boutros, Susan Hefuna, Youssef Nabil and Sabah Naim

Rose Issa Projects
269 Kensington High Street, London W8 6NA
20 APRIL – 22 may 2010
10-6 pm Tuesday-Saturday, by appointment

“Al Qahira” (“Cairo” in Arabic), is a glimpse of different aspects of life in this ancient and rambling metropolis, as captured by four outstanding artists.

Youssef Nabil focuses on Cairo’s glamorous past as the Hollywood of the Orient, with sensuous hand-tinted studio shots of stars such as Omar Sharif and the great director Youssef Chahine. In contrast, Sabah Naim’s subjects are the crowds of everyday men on the street, their mood reflected in the wash of colour and drawings she applies to each frame.

Nabil Boutros reveals a little known and rarely seen aspect of the city in his collage-like triptychs of Egypt’s Coptic community – the oldest Christian society in the world. A recurring theme in Susan Hefuna’s work is the filter between the visible and invisible, which she explores through photography with ghostly images of women behind mashrabiyas – traditional latticework screens.

Shown together, “Al Qahira” is a tribute to the city where the artists were born.