The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

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In a humble village on the banks of the Nile called Harraniya, Fatma Awad lived a quiet, simple life, but her works told grand stories. She wove art that journeyed from the heart of Egypt to gallery halls across Europe.

She recently passed away at the age of 82, after spending more than half a century transforming thread into tapestries full of life.

Despite her modesty, she was a born artist with the eyes of a child, the skilled hands of a craftswoman, and an endlessly creative soul. In 1951, Fatma was just a little girl, one of 16 children who joined a newly launched artistic project founded by artist Ramses Wissa Wassef and his wife, Sophie.

The initiative became the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, with a simple yet profound mission: to give children a space to express themselves freely through art, without academic instruction or rigid rules. From the very beginning, Fatma’s unique touch was evident. She loved storytelling through weaving. Birds, animals, fields, and her village neighbours all came to life in her work with the honesty and imagination of childhood.

Weaving from Her Heart: A Natural Artist

She remained at the centre for over fifty years, from 1952 to 2005. She loved her craft and saw every thread in her hand as a chance to tell a new visual tale. Her tapestries were always bursting with life: farmers watering crops, women gathering harvests, children playing by the canal. It’s no surprise that her work was showcased both locally and internationally starting from 1958. One of her masterpieces, Irrigation in the Fields, is currently on display at a global exhibition in Germany, at the James Simon Museum in Berlin. To those unfamiliar with her, Fatma might seem like a trained artist or a design graduate. But the truth is, she created art from the heart. She saw beauty in the smallest details of daily life and translated it with delicate sensitivity, turning simplicity into something magical.

A Final Goodbye and An Immortal Legacy

In recent days, the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre bade farewell to one of its pillars. Though Fatma never sought the limelight, she left behind a living legacy. Her tapestries are more than art; they are chapters of an honest Egyptian story, told with needle and thread. May Fatma Awad rest in peace, the artist who taught us that true art doesn’t come from schools, but from a loving heart, a perceptive eye, and a patient hand.