“A Life in Struggle”, is the latest exhibition of paintings by legendary expressionist Ingy Aflaton (1926-1989) currently on show at SAFARKHAN gallery in Zamalek. The works on display are from her last production of paintings that depict female peasants collecting oranges and others in the palm tree fields as well as sailing boats. In these works, she surpassed the coloured touches of the brush leaving spaces in the same colour of the canvas to realize through this technique an oriental rhythm. Aflaton studied in the Sacre-Coeur French school. Her father Hassan Aflaton Pasha brought her an art teacher in the early 1940's when she was 17 years old. She studied art at the hands of the great Egyptian artist Kamel Al-Telemsani who taught her every thing about arts in the period from 1942 to 1945. When she started creating her own art, she poured all her emotions, fears, concerns and expectations in her works. She continued through her artistic journey to build her own social expressions that was obvious in her painting Divorce. Despite of her aristocratic background, she was a political activist. She rebelled against all traditional styles even surrealism and expressionism, her revolution appeared in style that is so-called social expressionism that aims at revolting against all kind of injustice, tyranny as well as political and economical oppression. She was arrested in the 1950's and spent two months detained then she escaped from the prison to Kafr Shokr disguised as a peasant. Among her most remarkable works are Oven and Flood 2,We Egyptian Women, Peace and Evacuation. The exhibition runs through 2 February.
