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

The city of Cairo has, and continues to be, a capital saturated with youthful talent, raw creativity, and variant forms of art. One such young and creative talent is Ramy Rashad: a Captain Pilot, with a passion for photography and art.  Yes, you read that right this guy flies planes, takes breathtaking photographs, all whilst managing to muster  international attention for his abstract paintings. When we say “international attention”, we are referring to the fact that the young artist’s – aged only 33 –  debut occurred in, none other than, the eternally artistic city of Rome, and his work turned the heads of large Italian newspapers. In other words, Rashad started his career as an artist with a bang! 

We were so glad, therefore, to speak with him about the artworks that he will be showcasing in Cairo’s Opera House this Thursday (22/2/2017), under the umbrella of a larger exhibition called “Hawaa’…Al Helm” (Eve…The Dream), organized by artist Shereen Badr. From its name, you probably already guessed that the topic of choice is women, with all their journeys, contradictions, struggles, and narratives. We spoke to Rashad about his participation in the exhibition and here is what he told us: 

“The exhibition is largely a commemoration of International Women’s Day. I have to say I am extremely proud, and personally invested in this theme. I am proud to be working alongside such incredible artists, and I am also personally invested because my own mother – Anna Saadalla – is an artist. In fact, my mother was the one who asked me to participate in the Art without Border’s show in Rome. Hence, you can already see, how this female figure has left the strongest of marks on my journey as both a human being and an artist: this is why I feel invested in this exhibition.”

“I think that Egyptian women are specifically judged for how they dress: society tends to ignore their intellect, their talents, their capacities, and sideline them. My work in this exhibition is largely a response to this idea of judging Egyptian women merely through their outer appearance. My work is about exposing the layers of raw and unfiltered power that these women possess. In a way you can say I am somehow stripping women bear of the marks left on them from superficial judgments, and providing them with a narrative outside of it, via my abstract artwork.”  

For more information about the exhibition, check out our event calendar.