"Singular", a solo exhibition of paintings by Salam Yousry, is currently showing at SOMA gallery. Yousry engages in a contemplative process of observation through dissecting the relationship between the individual and the group. Attempting to explore both a singular element within the group and the group as a singular unit, the artist raises questions about how the body performs itself within the social sphere. Yousry constructs an understanding of the characters he is questioning through a process of disfiguration. This fracturing and rearrangement of the individual makes room for a reimagined, alternative narrative about his subjects. Born in 1982, Yousry is a Cairo-based visual artist and filmmaker. After graduating from the painting department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University in 2004, he was appointed a teaching assistant there, a position he held until 2007. He has participated in numerous art exhibitions in Egypt, such as Shelter in Alexandria, Galleria Soul in Gouna, and the Russian Cultural Center in Cairo. His last solo exhibition took place at Access Art Space in October-November 2020.
In 2002, Yousry founded Al-Tamye Theatre Group in Cairo; in 2010 he initiated the International Choir Project, which travelled the world; and in 2012, he organised the Combo Independent Festival at the Rawabet theatre in Downtown Cairo. Since 2010, the artist has been facilitating community-based workshops in songwriting and performance across the Middle East, Europe and the United States. He also produced several music videos, documentaries and short films. The exhibition is on show until 22 April. *A version of this article appears in print in the 8 April, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
