Rediscovering the Historic Arts of Luxor Through A Contemporary Eye At Luxor Art Gallery on the West Bank
ASHARQ AL-AWSAT Newspaper — The world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, based in London, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities, and owned by the Saudi Research and Marketing Group
https://aawsat.com/pdf/issue15225//
August 5, 2020
Written by Mona Abu Al-Nasr, Cairo
Translated from Arabic into English by D. Navarro
Close to the two Colossi of Memnon statues, the Luxor Art Gallery, which was founded in 2018, maintains its distinctive location on the west bank area of Luxor in southern Egypt. But its artistic exhibitions have moved to cyberspace with the Corona pandemic which has limited visitors and tourists to the historic “city of the sun.”
Throughout her extensive visits to Luxor, American artist and writer Dominique Navarro became interested in the relationship between the ancient Egyptian artists who filled the walls of temples and tombs with engravings, and the contemporary Egyptian artists, the descendants of that visual creativity. Navarro became acquainted with many artists in Luxor, and says, “I have been seeking out contemporary artists in Luxor for years, trying to understand what contemporary art means in a city that is known as an ancient necropolis. Tourists come from across the globe to see the temples and tombs of the past, in awe of the divine reliefs and sculptures of the ancient Egyptians.”
Navarro tells Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, “What I discovered is that art is alive and flourishing in Luxor. But despite a momentum in the contemporary art movement in Egypt, there are rarely opportunities to see such art in Luxor, with limited venues and only a few temporary exhibitions each year. Luxor needs a permanent contemporary art gallery, and that’s why Luxor Art Gallery was created.”
With the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, the gallery’s activities have moved online showing and selling art on the website and through social media. As Navarro says: “We’ve had to move the gallery into the virtual world to keep it alive, especially since tourism is now very low, and until things return to normal again."
Four of the archaeological sites in Luxor have finally reopened after a closure that lasted about three months, including Karnak and Luxor temples on the east bank, and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings and Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple in the west, after the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism confirmed the completion of the implementation of the precautionary safety measures for opening the archaeological areas as part of its plan to avoid an outbreak of the Corona virus.
Luxor Art Gallery's exhibiting artists are distinctive for their remarkable artistic richness, inspired by the ancient arts and the local heritage in Upper Egypt, creating a common thread that brings together artists from different generations. Most of the artists reside in Luxor or have a love for the ancient city, whether Egyptian or foreigner. Among them is the the Egyptian artist Alaa Awad living in Luxor, whose art is filled with the narratives of Pharaonic Egypt and the surviving heritage of rural life that still exists in the west bank of Luxor. Among his works at the gallery is a painting that depicts funerary rituals in ancient Egypt. The gallery also displays photographs by the Egyptian artist Khaled Abul-Dahab, known for his portraits in which he approaches the aesthetics of Nubian faces of various ages. The gallery also presents a number of paintings by artist Enas Amara, who depicts landmarks of Luxor’s temples and Nubian landscapes in luminous panoramas.
Throughout the gallery’s online presentations of the artists and their work, curiosity is inspired to learn more about the story behind each artwork. A painting by the Egyptian artist Shaza Khalid includes traditional folk dolls in colorful cloth. Shaza tells Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, “This painting was inspired by girls of Upper Egypt who from their early childhood learn to make dolls from fabrics. I am attracted to this type of art, for its distinct and aesthetic beauty, so I was inspired by the children's design of their dolls in the technical concept of my work, especially from the way they sew the dolls, and so I added into the painting the element of collage with thread and cloth.”
The land of Luxor (Thebes) still inhabits ancient tales and mythology of ancient Egypt that never ceases to amaze the artists of the world. The ancient Egyptians recognized Sekhmet, the goddess of war and a symbol of power, which Mustafa Saifoon tells Asharq Al-Awsat: “Through my paintings I tried to express the feelings of anger and terror surrounding a mythical god that was meant to protect, using red tones and shadows to create the feeling of fire and heat. In a second painting, I once saw the sight of stunned tourists in front of a statue of Sekhmet, so I tried to capture this experience between the feelings of the modern people and the power of Sekhmet over time.”