Shafaf (Transparency)

Today was the 2nd day of the Luxor African Film Festival.

The venue for my film of the day was, the newly built and completed Cultural Centre. The short film 'Siggil' directed by Remzi Mazet, tells the story of a man that had the very important job of taking care of 'Agathe' a white terrier.
Dressed in his very best clothes, he takes Agathe to the poodle parlour, she emerges persil white and the story begins.........

Our new cinema is state of the art. Superb as a showcase for the Film Festival and future Cultural events. It has the wow factor!

After the film had finished to a rapturous applause, we wandered around, looking at the art exhibitions. We heard music and wondered where it came from? An aromatic, fragrant trail of incense intertwined with the melodic sounds of the Oud, led us to a room with a living and developing art exhibition.

Emad Abo Grain, a young man from Asyut, welcomed us and immediately made us feel at home in the world he had created for his visitors. A world within 4 walls.

The exhibition was called 'Shafaf' which means transparency. All the walls were covered in many individual pieces of art, created from a clear plastic film, with a small purple flower detail. Each piece was incorporated with a feature from the room, such as a power supply switch used as an 'Eye' in a portrait, a door or a cable hanging from an unfinished power supply. Even his shoes had circles drawn on them, enabling him to feel a part of his own creation.

The images in the room were in black and white. Faces drawn in black marker pen, were sad, happy, tearful, shocked, thoughtful, all relative to the post Revolution Egypt.

The lack of colour and the haunting Lebanese sound of the Oud playing, created a very clean space and allowed for freedom of thought and expression.

Emad had created a space for his deep and innermost thoughts and emotions. As he explained different areas and drawings to us, it was all very clear to me and I understood his feelings in his work. (He spoke in Arabic and I did not understand all of it, but through his creativity and expression, words were not really necessary)

The chair was the centre of the exhibit. You chose which path to take, but whichever path you took, you would stop at the chair, with a black marker pen and the words DRAW on the cloth. Emad wants to encourage all that visit to draw, to paint, be artistic.

The beauty of his exhibition is that everything can be lifted off of the wall, put into your pocket, reopened and positioned in your home, where you want it to be. A small piece of Emad Abo Grain can be with you at all times.

He is currently working on an exhibition with colour and the traditional Egyptian sun bread, which is just incredible.

More photos