Collage workshop output displayed at Egypt's Darb 1718

Environmental issues and consumer culture feature in a series of collages on exhibition after a workshop given by artist Hany Rashed

Darb 1718 is holding an exhibition to displays the output of a collage making workshop given by artist Hany Rashed.
The collage exhibition displays the best two works that each participant made across the 10 days of the workshop. Participants varied from artists to amateurs and first-timers.
“It is really important for anyone who is starting out to learn how to create a collage,” Rashed told Ahram Online. “It makes an artist think about what to choose to put in it, and gives them somewhere to start out,” adding that in order to produce good collages, one has to have as many magazines as possible on different topics.
Workshop participants mixed painting with magazine scraps, producing some distinctive and eye-catching works. Most works reflected on consumerism, life in the city, and environmental issues.
Works by Deanne Vine were enchanting and eerie. In one collage, emitting a grim mood, she pastes three women in a dark forest, while in another she paints a grandiose room, where a woman is lying on the floor looking at a mirror that reflects a featureless face.
Another piece of interest was by Malak El-Shazly, which criticised capitalism through an image of an overpopulated city, where people fill the streets and hinder the movement of busses. Her choice of quotations taken out of numerous magazines was relevant to the picture and its message.
Sara Elkamel, Ahram Online's visual arts critic, captured the contradictions of life in her collages. One of her pieces shows a twirling skirt in the centre, creating movement. Painting a sun and a moon added a feeling of continuity that distinguishes her work.
Leah Robertson shed light on the effects of car exhaust fumes and factory smoke in a picture dominated by yellows and greys. The collage depicts a polluted area featuring two factory chimneys, while in the forefront of the painting there are two women covering their noses with their hands.
Though the quality of the works vary in the exhibition, it is interesting to see what can be produced in a short space of time, with amateurs and first-timers featured.
The exhibition is located on the second floor of Darb 1718's exhibition hall, while on the first floor there is a "Twitter wall", where anyone can express whatever they want.
The collage exhibition is ongoing until 5 October in Darb 1718, located in Kasr El-Shamea Street, Al-Fakhareen, Old Cairo.