Picasso gallery in Zamalek presents a dual exhibition of paintings: “Forbidden Fruit” byHelmy Al-Toniand Intizar(waiting) bySoraya Fahmy. Fahmy is an Egyptian contemporary artist. Born in Athens in 1968, she travelled the world and has been exposed to different cultures. She is a graduate of the University of Geneva and has been painting since she was very young. From Toronto to Rome, Greece to Tunisia, Switzerland to Syria, and for as long as she can remember, she has been amazed by figures and faces. "My paintings are an emotional response to memory of people, places and times spent with friends and family. The pleasure and joy is in the making, the layering, and the final reflection of the soul of the people I met. I tell stories with my brush with compassion and empathy. Slowly, layer by layer, the spirit flows magically into the painting. Eventually something pure seems to breathe below the layers. Time is frozen. How did the story begin? Who are these people? I am walking with big steps. My footprints might still be small, but they are of importance to me and to the one whose heart is marked by my paintings". 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The exhibition continues until 21 March.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 12 March, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly