I am a conceptual artist, born in Egypt to a British mother and Egyptian father. I grew up in Cairo, lived and travelled extensively around North Africa and Europe from an early age and currently living in the UK. My art practice draws on my cross-cultural heritage, social-political experiences, identity, memory, migration, displacement and belonging. My Egyptian, Islamic cultural heritage juxtaposed against my western liberal thought and ideas.
Recently, my installation work focuses on an underlining theme of 'portable sculpture'. I explore my themes of belonging, place, memories and identity through different materials and techniques: plaster forms, knitting soft sculptures, working with found materials and archiving personal slides and images as well as working with video.
Due to the nature of my semi-nomadic life, and my interest in exploring the relationships between self and place, I have been producing work on the move and responding with my portable sculptural installations, to different spaces and circumstances.
Through art, I deal with these ideas in different ways, mixed media, sculptural installations, and cross-discipline collaborative work, which allow me to investigate these themes, communicating and engaging with wider audiences, instigating conversations, and exploring differences and similarities.
I use found, repurposed, recycled objects, and plastic waste in my work, responding to these materials as well as these charged themes of identity, place and belonging, abstracting my feelings and thoughts into my work, investigating cultural, social, and environmental issues.
Biography:
I have recently completed with Distinction, MFA Fine Art from the London Metropolitan University.
I am a member of Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum (SVAF), exhibited at the Kaleidoscope Gallery in Sevenoaks, No Format Gallery in Deptford as well as other exhibitions and events in the South East.
As a member of Jessops Farm Studios and gallery, Kent, an artist led space, I have been collaborating on community let projects. For Southeast Communities Rail Partnership at Penshurst Station, I was involved with transforming the station shelter into a public art gallery space. As well as an exhibiting artist, I also project managed the planning and production process.
I am on the steering committee for Art in June (AIJ) 2023 and 2024 Open Studios, and have curated shows for AIJ and SVAF.
I also responded to lockdown by creating an unconventional gallery 'The Open Dresser Gallery' curating and showcasing artists' work in a unique and unconventional way and outside the confined spaces of traditional galleries.
Recent work:
· The SVAF Open, Kaleidoscope Art Gallery, Sevenoaks, group show 2023. (Judges Prize Award)
. Final MFA show, London Met, September 2023. (Exhibition Award)
. Interaction, pop-up show, Easel and Camara Gallery, Elgouna, Egypt, July 2023
· The travel Hut, show and residency, Art in June 2023
· CONNECTIONS show, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, group show 2023
· Like a Heartbeat, solo pop-up show, Galerie Greuclich, Frankfurt, May 2023
· Spaces Between, mobile installation and collaboration, London Met University winter show 2022
· Box of Tricks, Center for Recent Drawing (C4RD), March 2023. (the outcome of a month long residency)
· ROOTED, Sussex Prairie Garden, Sussex, group show 2022
· Art in June, Kent, The Barn at Falconhurst, group show 2022
· STUFF, The Junk Punk Bunch pop-up show, Holborn, London, 2022
· FINISHED, Kaleidoscope Art Gallery, Sevenoaks, group show 2022
· The SVAF Open, Kaleidoscope Art Gallery, Sevenoaks, group show 2021
· Celebrate Cuckmere Haven, East Sussex, group show, 2021
· Void 2020, Horsebridge Arts Center, Whitstable, window commission and group show, 2021
· Child's Play Sculpture Park, Jesspos Farm Studios, solo show, 2021
· SVAF, More Than and More More Than, Sevenoaks, online group shows, 2020, 2021
· WSP32, Winter Sculpture Park, London, group show, 2020
· Art of Isolation Gallery, London, group show, 2020, 2021, 2022
· Penshurst Platform Gallery, Penshurst, Kent, 2019 - current
· Art in June, Kent, Open Studios, 2019
· Second Floor Studios, Sevenoaks group show, 2018
Curating:
· CONNECTIONS, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, group show for Art In June Kent 2023
· Co-curated ROOTED, Sussex Prairie Garden, Sussex, group show 2022
· More Than and More More Than online group shows for SVAF, Sevenoaks, 2020, 2021
· Various shows at TOD Gallery
