Al-Kahila gallery is back with“Summer Colours”, a group show featuring among others Sayed Saad El Din, Ayyad Alnimer, Mohamed Rabie, Mohamed Dmarawey,Britt Botrous Ghali and Dina Targram. BrittBotrous Ghali is among the important Norwegian artists of the century. Steeped in the early influences of abstract expressionism, she studied painting and sculpture under Ellen Christensen and Ferdinand Lunde in Oslo in the late 1950s. She also employed impressionist techniques. I remember the exhibition the artist gave in Egypt in 1999, featuring speedy spectral lines with rough intermittent touches of the brush, using oils intensively on the surface. Shapes are more suggestive from a distance, although they never resolve into anything definite. As for her current exhibition, there is an artistic breakthrough in terms of style, colour and design. In contrast to her beginnings, Britt has spent the last 40 years in Egypt. Her studio overlooks the Nile, which serves as a place of abundance – not only for local artists and eccentrics to meet, but also for people who travel from afar to see and collect her work. The many years spent in Egypt's rich, colorful and exotic culture and environment has greatly influenced her work. Britt has exhibited internationally throughout her career. Her work is widely collected. In 1996, she was awarded the Saint Olav's Order, the highest Norwegian honour for an artist, by King Haakon of Norway, for promoting Norway through her art abroad. The exhibition is on until 30 July.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 9 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
