Osama Kamal pays a virtual visit to a dilapidated palace that turns itself inside out to tell its story Walking through the architectural mix of East and West that is Cairo's Downtown, I made my way to the Balad Library where photographer and writer Sherif Abdel-Maguid was having an exhibition. Once inside the library, I could have been in a European town. The library, situated close to the American University, is a piece of Europe. Its decoration, ambiance, and multi-room display are modern, and it displays not just books but films, CDs, DVDs and photography. You can also take a break from shopping for books to enjoy coffee and cake in the next door cafeteria. The idea of this particular exhibition came to Abdel-Maguid as he was sitting in the Takeiba Café on Champollion Street with an Australian friend, Rachel Nago. The two artists, both devoted enthusiasts of old architecture, had held a joint exhibition at the Konst Café downtown Cairo in 2008, and they were discussing the possibility of a new joint art work. They were keen to find a topic that would illustrate the fact that relations between civilisations should involve more dialogue than conflict. At one point, they recalled the story of a man who was widely known as the Kimberley wizard. An Australian who went to Kimberley in South Africa to seek his fortune in the diamond business, he proceeded to rent a diamond mine from the South African government and, on his first day at work, he found one of the largest diamonds in the world. From there he went to become a major figure in the diamond industry, but from then on, for all the money he spent digging for diamonds, he never found another diamond to match the one he found on his first day. The two artists then had an epiphany. Right behind them they sensed something mysterious and tempting. Feeling that the spirit of the Kimberley wizard was beckoning to them, they decided to do something about a dust-ridden palace on that same street. That was how their joint exhibition, "The Palace on Champollion", came into being. Abdel-Maguid is showing 16 photographs about this long-abandoned palace at the Balad Library. Meanwhile, Nago is exhibiting her own pictures in Melbourne, Australia. For Abdel-Maguid, the palace was a metaphor for the surrealism that he often sought in literature. An avid reader, Abdel-Maguid was familiar with the work of Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Arthur Adamov and Harold Pinter. As a short story writer, he often satirises the chaos one so often encounters in Egypt. The palace on Champollion was built by a member of Egypt's defunct royal family, Said Halim. The actual construction began in 1897 and ended in 1901. An 1874 map shows the area now occupied by the palace as an empty plot owned by Said Halim's sister, Zeinab Hanem. Zeinab had endowed the plot to the sustenance of the Hanafi disciples of Islamic law, but after she was declared insane, her brother seized the land and built his palace on it. In later years, Al-Azhar filed a failed petition to take hold of the land. The palace, designed in the baroque style by Italian architect Intonio Lasiac, changed hands several times. By 1942 it had passed into the hands of Irene Morriano, Victoria Morriano, Anori Morriano, and Victor Paxman before falling into disrepair and becoming a home for bats and mice. For a while it was used as accommodation for the workers of nearby car repair shops, and in better times it served as background for music video clips, as well as a store for ballot boxes. In a nutshell, the place had begun to exhibit some of the surrealism of which Abdel-Maguid is so fond. It perhaps epitomises the eccentricity that makes Egyptians build pyramids and then slums; listen to Umm Kolthoum; and then switch to Shaaban Abdel-Rehim. A royal place has turned into an abiding mystery. The photographs in the exhibition depict various parts of the palace. We see balconies, doors, statues and rooms coming alive through an exquisite play of light and shadow. Looking at the pictures, one can almost sense the passage of those who once resided in the rooms, passed through the gates, and could not have imagined what fate time had in store for this palace. Buildings are a major inspiration for photographer-writer Abdel-Maguid. His first exhibition, held in Ingi Aflaton's Room at the Cairo Atelier in 2006, was called "Madinati" (My City). He photographed it entirely with a mobile phone, an unusual gesture in the art world. His aim was to show the great contrast between the luxury housing development of Madinati and the poor sections of Cairo, including Sayeda Zeinab where he grew up. Some of the photographs exhibited in "Madinati" were also shown at the Jazira Art Centre in 2006. His second exhibition, "Hitan" (Walls), held at the Al-Sawy Cultural Wheel in 2007, featured walls from all over Egypt, walls that chronicled the pulse of the nation, its interest in politics, in religion, and in football among other things. Abdel-Maguid not only recorded the history of the nation as he saw it on walls, but tried to illustrate the artistry involved in the walls. In his photographs, you can see the multi- layered composition of impromptu murals, the vividness of colours and the intensity of emotion. A correspondent for the US magazine In The Frame reviewed Abdel-Maguid's exhibition and compared it with "Walls of Palermo", another exhibition by an Italian artist on a similar topic that was running concurrently at the gallery. The correspondent pointed out the similarities between the two exhibitions. For example, an after-hours café in Sayeda Zeinab looked rather similar to an abandoned café in Palermo, while working-class areas seemed to be enjoying fairly similar artistic taste in both countries. Years ago, when he came upon the books on photography by Sayed Hilal, a new world was opened to Abdel-Maguid. He soon discovered the concepts of composition and depth in Abdel-Fattah Riyad's book Al-Takween fi Al-Funoun Al-Tashkiliya (Composition in Plastic Arts), which he says is a must read for amateurs. Abdel-Maguid's relationship with art is multi-faceted. Born in 1971, he began writing short stories as an undergraduate at the Foreign Trade School in Zamalek in the early 1990s, and has since commanded the respect of literary critics. His first collection of short stories, Maqtaa Gadid Le Ostura Qadima (A New Chapter of an Old Myth), was published by Dar Merit in 2002. The second, Khadamat Ma Baad Al-Bayei (After Sale Services, won the Sawiris Award for Young Short Story Writers in 2009 and is about to be published by Dar Merit. In 2003, Al-Hayaa Al-Ama Li Qusur Al-Thaqafa published his play for theatre, Konsherto Al-Zawgein wal Radio (A Concert for a Couple and a Radio). Abdel-Maguid says that both photography and short stories involve a time-shortened intensity. Just as a good picture can summarise millions of moments, a short story can capture intricate meanings that would otherwise take volumes to explain. Abdel-Maguid may see himself as a surrealistic artist, but his work brings home the essence of immutable beauty.
