Osama Kamal views the work of 173 artists in an exhibition evoking the national mood currently on show in the Mahmoud Mokhtar Museum Mahmoud Mokhtar was an icon of the 1919 revolution. His name is often associated with the revolution's political leader, Saad Zaghlul, and its talented songwriter Sayyed Darwish. In sculptures that celebrated Egypt's pride, identity and independence Mokhtar sent a lasting message to the nation, one that resonated with the liberal thinking of his generation, as well as the progressive writings of eminent scholars such as Ahmad Lotfi El-Sayyed, Taha Hussein, Qassem Amin, Abbas El-Aqqad, Tawfiq El-Hakim, Mohamed Hussein Heikal, Ibrahim El-Mazni, Mohamed Hassan El-Zayyat and Abdel-Rahman Shokri. Mokhtar's generation stood for a wide spectrum of civil liberties: freedom of expression, women's rights, democracy and political pluralism. Theirs was an accomplishment we can only hope to emulate today. I went to the exhibition on Thursday 28 July, the night preceding the demonstrations by political Islamist groups supporting a brand of fundamentalism that stands in the face of everything Mokhtar's generation believed in. According to museum curator Tamer Assem, the works submitted to "Today's Exhibition" had to be done on a small scale, 15 centimetres square. The idea was to showcase the artist's ability to work in a small space and yet maintain control over the material and the subject matter. The pieces for the exhibition were selected by a committee consisting of art professor Ashraf Reda, plastic arts department director Reda Abdel-Rahman, art director Dalia Mostafa and Tamer Assem. The committee selected the exhibits from among nearly 500 works in printing, gravure, and painting. The exhibited pieces cover a wide range of styles. Some of the participating artists were veterans, including 60-year-old Minya University professor Al-Sayyed El-Qammash, but most of the exhibitors were in their 20s. Expressionist and modernist pieces proved to be popular among the exhibitors, although modern and post-modern paintings were also present in force. Quite a few pieces dealt, somewhat surprisingly in today's climate, with topics unrelated to the revolution. The majority, however, addressed the issue of the country's identity, its current mood, and its prospects. While several artists painted faces of Egyptian women, some made references to the unity between Muslims and Copts. Others incorporated the Egyptian flag in their paintings, and quite a few replicated images from Tahrir Square. Among those who focused on the revolution, Asmaa Abul Magd depicted the moment of national rage in January in a painting featuring a flag enveloping the protestors. Nadia Gibri Shehata's soft and almost dreamy composition addressed the same topic. Iman Hafez painted the planet fluttering above the pyramids, while Iman Qotb used pharaonic symbols to signify the Egyptian revival. Ali Ahmad Nasser painted an Egyptian face with a flag on the forehead, while Fatma Wagdi imparted masculinity to another patriotic face. Christine Fakhri painted a woman with a long hair which blended with scenes of Egyptian heritage. An Egyptian woman in modern clothes, depicted by Yunan Zikri, was awash with revolutionary paraphernalia. Mostafa Selim's painting of a face of a woman also symbolised a motherly and kind Egypt. Dalia Farag's depiction of a Sufi singing session was also a reference to the country's identity. Randa Ali Hassan's piece, showing the cross and the crescent incorporated in two mirrored faces, was a comment on the country's religious fabric, especially the sectarian tension triggered by the referendum on constitutional amendments. Mina Nasr Tadrus's portrayal of a blind-folded face drowning in newspaper clips epitomised the nation's current state of confusion. The same mindset was symbolised by a white moon eclipsed by a red cloud in the middle of black sky in Soad Bayyumi's painting, blending the colours of the flag into a thematic composition evoking a sense of bewilderment. Suzanne Saad, who also used the symbolism of the flag, painted the revolutionaries in a more optimistic light, while Arabi Mostafa depicted the jubilant face of a man shouting in triumph at the moment the president stepped down. In Fadwa Attiya's painting, the revolutionaries are shown, against an Egyptian flag, brandishing the three slogans of the revolution: freedom, justice, and dignity. The three children releasing birds into an open sky in May Heshmat's painting symbolise the newly-acquired sense of national freedom. In Samah Kamal's painting of a prisoner breaking free from his shackles, the theme of liberation is also paramount. Nearly 500 paintings were reviewed by the curators who putg together this exhibition, and although some of the chosen pieces are remarkable for their lively spirit and technical skill, few approximate the mastery with which Mokhtar encapsulated the national mood in the post-1919 period. One reason Mokhtar's work is so powerful today is that he did not only think as an artist, but as an engaged intellectual and committed activist. Mokhtar and his generation are a hard act to follow, made harder by the Islamists who have flexed their muscles in Tahrir Square. And yet, the tiny paintings in "Today's Exhibition" are a signal that the healing is already underway and that the nation is determined to move on.
