This residency has given me the opportunity to bring my most recent work together in one space. Exploring my themes through different materials and techniques: plaster forms, collage, print, knitting, embroidery, working with found materials and archiving personal slides and images.
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.
Using found, repurposed, recycled objects, from my childhood (like my mother's 1960's suitcase, or threads and old jewellery given to my by my Egyptian aunt).While, the act of knitting, stitching, and weaving resonates with me as these skills were passed down from my Egyptian grandmother. A portable method of making. I can make these pieces sitting on trains or planes. Reflecting on my own experience, multicultural identity, as well as the collective experiences of movement, migration, displacement, belonging and fitting in or standing out.
All my work is portable, carry their own history and DNA and are placed in different environments as installations responding, merging and adapting to the space and creating a dialogue. A patchwork of interconnecting lines, places, and cultural influences, leading out in different directions, layering themes, and interconnecting events.