Where are the clowns? Well, maybe they're here. Rania Khallaf finds herself a mask to hide behind The clown, the modern alternative of the historical mask known throughout the world since the dawn of human civilisation, is prevalent as one of today's themes. Last year saw the production of The Clown, a film directed by Emad El-Bahat and starring Haitham Ahmed Zaki, son of the legendary actor Ahmed Zaki. The film depicts the character of a real clown who comes from a poor family, a reference to the escalating problems of poverty and corruption in Egyptian society. In the 1970s another film called Nothing Matters starring renowned actor Nour El-Sherif and Zebida Tharwat also studied the character of the clown and his position and involvement in society. The idea is more or less recurrent in an art exhibition entitled "Clowns", inaugurated this week by El-Sherif and artist Mohsen Shaalan, chairman of the Plastic Arts sector. The exhibition, which is being held at the Grant Art Gallery, contains 22 portraits of clowns by Amany Zahran. It runs until 16 February. The idea of portraying clowns occurred to Zahran last year when she was working on her exhibition "Madad... Madad", which consisted entirely of the art of the tanoura dance. "The exhibition focussed on the colours of the tanoura, but the real challenge was to depict the beautiful colours of the tanoura in its motion and speed," Zahran said. "I felt that I wanted to move to a theme a bit more challenging pertaining to colour, this time in a rather static form. I have always been infatuated by the faces of clowns and their reflection of emotions," says Zahran. For Zahran, who graduated in fine arts from Cairo University in 1993, the clown is merely a human being like the rest of us, but with extra talents that we lack. "All people have become clowns, I believe," she says. "People have become so dispassionate about life and events going on. People tend to hide their true feelings and emotions; they will watch the news on the war in Gaza on Al-Jazeera and the next minute switch to another channel to watch a song by Haifaa Wahbi. However, the actual clown has a much better job. At least he plays his role while he doesn't have a penny in his pocket, and despite his own sadness. In his daily battle against depression, he raises his wooden sword and defies anyone to refrain from laughing." Zahran deplores the fact that clowns are only found in the circus, while in the West clowns can be seen in the streets, public squares and almost everywhere where children congregate. The exhibition's portraits of the clowns, including two portraits of actor El-Sherif, are extremely interesting and cheerful, despite the fact that many of the portraits have their own somewhat sad features. The portraits nevertheless invite the viewer to pause for some imminent questions: why do they look so familiar and so funny? And why do I feel so attached to them? "It took me six months to finish this collection; six months of complete enjoyment," Zahran says. She had encountered many clowns during her travels to Greece, Salzburg and Vienna before initiating her project, and she began taking pictures and drawing sketches of clowns and watching them closely from behind the curtains as they prepared for their shows and put on their make-up. "I opted for pastel and charcoal as the materials used, because pastels, as colours, are very similar to the colours used by clowns to make up their faces. It is extremely difficult, because the colours can easily be removed, so I have to fix them and then put on another layer, and so on." "Although I have painted clowns in almost all the situations they might find themselves in, when they are happy, angry, sad, or passionate, I still have a lot to offer in this respect. I consider this exhibition as just a step into the real world of clowns," she says.
