Cairo's Nile Art Gallery hosted this week a group exhibition titled We Met in the South, featuring work by four Egyptian women artists: Suzey Shoukry, Halla Shafey, Gehan Fayez and Marwa Ezzat. On 20 April the gallery hosted a seminar in parallel to the exhibition, which closed 23 April. The seminar was moderated by art critic Yasser Mongy, who provided a reading of each of the works and highlighted some similarities and differences between the artist's approaches. As the title suggests, the exhibition emerged after the artists met and bonded at the Luxor International Painting Symposium held in December, deciding to hold a show together. The exhibition showcases their diverse artistic voices and the vision and expressions of each. Shoukry's work is a collection of black and white monochrome paintings. They are all, as the artist stressed, untitled so as not to steer the viewer in a certain direction. “From our differences come our agreements,” she said at the seminar. An artist, journalist and art critic, Shoukry has written for several newspapers and magazines, such as Al-Ahram's Evening Paper, Nahdet Misr newspaper, and Akhbar El-Adab magazine. She also served as a member of the jury committee of El-Sawy Culture Wheel between 2008 and 2010. Shoukry has been honoured several times by national culture institutions, including by the Minisrty of Culture for overseeing a group of Egyptian, Arab and foreign artists at the 9th Luxor International Painting Symposium. Artwork by Suzey Shoukry (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) Artwork by Suzey Shoukry (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) Shafey's colorful abstract work harmonised with that of the other artists, according to Mongy. A student of Magd El-Sagini's atelier, Shafey pursued her passion for art using pastels after a long career of 25 years as a development economist. The artist has said she is interested in colour, line, form and texture. Her work often depicts rural and urban landscapes and childhood memories. In 2013, she was awarded the first prize for non-members from the Pastel Society of England for her painting Girl from the South of Egypt. She was listed among 10 artists to watch in 2016 by the prestigious international Pastel Journal. Artwork by Halla Shafey (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) Artwork by Halla Shafey (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) Fayez, head of the mural painting department at Minya's Faculty of Fine Art, displayed a number of her large scale cubistic pieces, characterised by their use of primary colors. Her murals have been displayed in a number of solo exhibitions, most recently in 2016 in Murals of Abu Sweilem. She has also displayed in group exhibitions such as Ajyal: The First International Salon, and the Third Borollos Symposium for Drawing on Walls and Boats. Artwork by Gehan Fayez (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) Artwork by Gehan Fayez (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) As for Ezzat, a lecturer at Luxor's Faculty of Fine Arts, her works were dominated by greens and reds, symbolically themed around a woman and a cat. Ezzat served as the Dean of Isis Art Gallery until 2010 and is the author of Materials and Techniques -- a book on drawing and painting. She has received a number of awards, including the painting prize from the Fine Arts Lovers Society in 1999 and 2001, the judges award in painting at the Youth Salon in 1998, as well as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina prize in painting at the Youth Salon in 2007. Artwork by Marwa Ezzat (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) Artwork by Marwa Ezzat (Photo: Courtesy of Nile Art Gallery) For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
