Fann A Porter Dubai is pleased to present A Memory of Places, an exhibition in collaboration with Cairo-based Azad Art Gallery. The exhibition will present selected pieces from a group of Egyptian artists including Mohamed Abdel-Moneim, Mohamed Abou Elwafa, Mohamed Banawy, Mostafa Sleem, Mhanny Yaoud, and Ahmed Magdy.
Places and memories occupy a great deal of any individual’s visual memories. Some places are synonymous with warmth and intimacy, while others are simply distressing. Some places are full of joy, their details fresh in our minds. And others, while cloudy, remain in the folds of our memory. Be these places real or imaginary, they remain a home for our memories and a destination for our dreams, or perhaps, the source of our fears and illusions.
On an artistic level, different places arouse different visual representations. Some of the artists seek to explicitly recreate these places, and others hope to understand their true nature and decipher their mysteries. Whatever the artistic inclinations, there is no doubt these spaces are caught in the memory, inspiring yet overwhelming, ambiguous yet forthright all at once.
Each painting, regardless of the chosen patterns or visual manifestations, draws a unique relationship between the person and the space, its features and the underlying passions present. Most of the artists in this exhibition have been shaped by their experiences in Egypt in the past two decades, a generation overwhelmed by shocking events, a generation in search of identity. And it is that search for identity that serves as a theme amongst the artists as they explore the ambiguous, but shared relationship between place and memory.