The Forbidden Portfolio

The Forbidden by Fatenn Mostafa

Silent agitators, Yasser Nabaiel and Weaam El Masry ques9on the chains imposed by the (visible and invisible) authori9es and the constant obliga9on for a seal of approval. Mainly government (human laws), religion (divine laws) and society (customs) form these ‘authori9es’. Any act contrary is seen as either illegal, sinful or taboo.

Yasser Nabaiel employs controversial androgynous figures to create layers of meanings to describe the state of Arabs today. For Nabaiel, we are confined, imprisoned and suffoca9ng from innumerable chains. This suffering, visualized at 9mes in 9ed hands or legs, is reminiscent of Jesus and is accentuated by the spreading of stones – ac9ng as setbacks making the road ahead difficult and painful. In four out of five works, the ar9st hides the head of the main figure, indica9ng that we no longer exist but as bodies, as numbers or seals.

In her second exhibi9on at ArtTalks, Weaam El Masry is showing seven new works, in which four are aspired by the unforgeQable love scene culmina9ng in murder in ‘Season of Migra4on to the North’ by the late Tayeb Salih, the founding father of Sudanese literature. With her signature drawing technique of absolute though nervous control of line, El Masry plays on the metaphorical meaning of the forbidden scene at the heart of the book. She poses whether it is possible for love to free us from society’s chains and accentuates the narrator’s most important discovery that "All my life I had not chosen, had not decided. Now I am making a decision."

Perhaps that is what we all should do.

The works presented in the exhibi9on by both ar9sts are inspired by ‘The Prophet’ wriQen in 1923 by the late Lebanese-­‐born Gibran Khalil Gibran and ‘Season of Migra4on to the North’ wriQen in 1966 by the late Sudanese thinker Tayeb Salih.

Both books offer an enduring appeal to tackle all that is forbidden. Both books were praised and banned. ‘The Prophet’ was temporary banned in Egypt in 1999 and again in 2012 arguing that the drawing on the cover could be seen as represen9ng Islam’s Prophet Mohamed. Tayeb Salih’s book on the other hand was banned for 30 years following its publica9on in Egypt and in Sudan and denounced as decadent and insul9ng of religion.

Yasser Nabaiel was born in Kafr el Sheikh, Egypt, in 1970. He lives and works in Lausanne, Switzerland. He holds a BFA and an MFA in Pain9ng and Drawing from the Fine Arts University in Cairo. He has par9cipated in several Youth Salons and General Salons through the Ministry of Culture in Egypt, besides exhibi9ng in many European ci9es. He received the highest honors in oil pain9ng for the 5 consecu9ve years at the faculty.

Born in 1987, Weaam el Masry is an Egyp9an Cairo-­‐based mul9-­‐award winning visual ar9st whose prac9ce has included video art, photography, drawing and pain9ng. She holds a PhD in Media Arts from the Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University and has won over 17 awards across her ar9s9c career from different ins9tu9ons in Egypt, notably the 2002 Youth Salon, the second prize in the 2003 Rateb Sedik (Atelier du Caire) and the Encouragement Award in the Port Said Biennale in 2003. She has par9cipated in over 40 exhibi9ons locally and interna9onally and has aQended several residencies, the most recent being in Columbia, where she resided in an all women jail. Her works are in the collec9on of the Egyp9an Museum for Modern Art, Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Egyp9an Ministry of Culture.

Yasser Nabaiel Forbidden Knowledge, 2015 oil on canvas | 200 x 150 cm

YN - 101

Yasser Nabaiel For My World Is As Forbidden As It Is Fragile, 2015 oil on canvas | 200 x 150 cm

YN - 102

Yasser Nabaiel Seal Of Approval, 2015 oil on canvas | 200 x 150 cm

YN - 103

Yasser Nabaiel The Tree Of Knowledge Of Good And Evil, 2015 oil on canvas | 200 x 150 cm

YN - 104

Yasser Nabaiel Stolen Waters Are Sweet, 2015 acrylic on paper | 150 x 140 cm YN - 105

Weaam El Masry Slave or God? 2015 mixed media on canvas | 100 x 100 cm WEM - 201

Weaam El Masry With Me Were Two Girls, 2015 mixed media on canvas | 100 x 100 cm

WEM - 202

Weaam El Masry Red, Blue and Violet Lights, 2015 mixed media on canvas | 100 x 100 cm

WEM - 203

Weaam El Masry Her Eyes Were The Color of Cairo, 2015 mixed media on canvas | 120 x 80 cm

WEM - 204

Weaam El Masry Voice In The Darkness, 2015 mixed media on canvas | 100 x 130 cm

WEM - 205

Weaam El Masry Spring-­‐well of Sorrow, 2015 mixed media on canvas | 150 x 150 cm

WEM - 206

Weaam El Masry A Whole Harem, 2015 mixed media on canvas | 150 x 150 cm LE 55,000 USD 7,300 WEM - 207

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