IT is said that the eye is the mirror of the soul, a window through which people can know each other. This was his start. In his paintings, he tries to capture the soul, which is why his characters look so real. In his exhibition, ‘Spirituals', Waleed Ebeid tends to dwell on the touchy moments in life, which is why ordinary people are his fuel. "My paintings are like photographs. The themes come from people. I like meeting different people and talking to them," Ebeid says. His colours on canvas express many current situations. His sensitive weapon for depicting the suffering of the people is the brush. ‘Prisoners Outside'is the name of one of his paintings. It's of people standing outside the iron grille at their local bakery waiting to buy a few pieces of baladi bread. You see poor Egyptians, who sometimes have to queue for hours in the morning for their bread. He excels in painting the eyes of these people, who represent many types of Egyptians. The painting depicts waiting, which has become a culture in Egypt. Everyone waits for everything: for the traffic to move; to find a job; to buy food; to get promotion; for marriage; to have children; to die and even for tomorrow. Sometimes these things come too late or not at all. "I express people. No-one is excepted. I'm concerned about the spiritual side of humanity regardless of their religious or political opinion," Ebeid told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. Loneliness is also a major theme in the paintings, maybe because when we are alone we take off our masks and become natural and pure, becoming ‘ourselves'and no-one else. There are many portraits of women in the exhibition. Each woman is on her own and has a story to tell. One is of an old lady sitting alone in a nursing home. "This grandma is like many old women who are left all alone when their children leave them. They then go to a nursing home," he explains. Ebeid also portrays a girl with her back to us, proudly looking at her reflection in a mirror in her bedroom. "This girl may wear a niqab [fullface veil] in public, but when she's in her bedroom alone she feels that she is a female," he adds. There's another picture of a girl sitting on a bed, while her eyes tell many painful stories. "She's a prostitute, at home after finishing her work. The loneliness and the fearful thoughts are killing her," the artist explains. There is also a teenager, with nothing to do except watch the TV all the time, and two paintings of two darkskinned people. "These two paintings were inspired by the ancient Egyptian harp players. I tried to imagine their real life, which is portrayed in Pharaonic paintings," the 39-year-old artist says. Ebeid was brought up in Yemen, where the pure natural landscapes made him love painting and colours. He listens to music before painting, as it inspires him. He chooses the mood of the music to suit the mood of the painting. He also likes to listen to the Holy Qur'an for spiritual inspiration. "I compare my new works to my older works, but I don't compare my works to the works of any other artist. I always challenge myself to do new works," he comments. There are also three related paintings: ‘La Ara' (I Can't See), ‘La Asma' (I Can't Hear) and ‘La Atakalam' (I Can't Talk). ‘La Ara shows a girl putting her hand to her eyes; in ‘La Asma', a girl puts her hands to her ears; and in ‘La Atakalam', she puts her hand to her mouth. The three paintings are taken from Pharaonic art. "Those paintings are a scream of freedom. All the freedom we claim we have is fake freedom. ‘La Ara' (I Can't See) means I need to see. If you're watching TV and someone stands in front of you, you'll say I can't see, which means I need to see. ‘La Asma' and ‘La Atakalam' mean I need to hear and need to speak," explains the artist, who is also a writer and a poet. ‘Spirituals', by Waleed Ebeid is being held in the Portrait Art Gallery, 11 el-Falaki Square, Bab el-Louq, downtown Cairo. The exhibition runs until Sunday.
