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An exploration of how young artists imagine and maintain hope in post-revolutionary Egypt
Creating Spaces of Hope explores some of the newest, most dynamic creativity emerging from young artists in Egypt and the way in which these artists engage, contest, and struggle with the social and political landscape of post-revolutionary Egypt.
How have different types of artists—studio artists, graffiti artists, musicians and writers—responded personally and artistically to the various stages of political transformation in Egypt since the January 25 revolution? What has the political or social role of art been in these periods of transition and uncertainty? What are the aesthetic shifts and stylistic transformations present in the contemporary Egyptian art world?
Based on personal interviews with artists over many years of research in Cairo, Caroline Seymour-Jorn moves beyond current understandings of creative work primarily as a form of resistance or political commentary, providing a more nuanced analysis of creative production in the Arab world. She argues that in more recent years these young artists have turned their creative focus increasingly inward, to examine issues having to do with personal relationships, belonging and inclusion, and maintaining hope in harsh social, political and economic circumstances. She shows how Egyptian artists are constructing “spaces of hope” that emerge as their art or writing becomes a conduit for broader discussion of social, political, personal, and existential ideas, thereby forging alternative perspectives on Egyptian society, its place in the region and in the larger global context.
“Amid a dark cobweb of dismay and despair in post- revolution Egypt, Caroline Seymour-Jorn reveals many spaces of hope weaved from various artistic tools: fiction, music, painting and street art. In her exploration of these novel artistic spaces, she proves that the artistic and personal are equally political. The critique and approach employed by the author attest to the fact that the 2011 revolution has radically subverted traditional imagination systems. A myriad of spaces of hope is what this book reveals.” –Shereen Abouelnaga, Cairo University
“Creating Spaces of Hope is a compelling exploration of the various creative ways in which Egyptian artists and writers engage with a ‘postrevolutionary Egyptian modernity,’ while tackling not only social and political issues, but also personal and philosophical questionings. Seymour-Jorn’s book, which blurs the boundaries between anthropology, literary theory, art criticism, and postcolonial studies in its scrupulous analytical approach, serves as essential reading for scholars and students grappling with the challenges and forces at play within Egypt’s contentious political and social arenas, themselves inscribed within a rich and dynamic cultural landscape.” –Nevine El Nossery, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Creating Spaces of Hope is a compelling addition to the scholarship about Egypt, where the art scene is part and parcel of the people’s lives. To get an in-depth understanding of the contemporary scene of Egypt, this book will benefit both undergraduate and graduate students in several fields." —Salam Mir, Arab Studies Quarterly
"A seminal and impressively informative study that is unreservedly recommended for Contemporary Egyptian Art & Culture collections."—Midwest Book Review
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Why This Book?
The Social and Political Context
Cairo’s Artistic and Literary Worlds
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Creativity
Chapter 1: Egypt’s Choir Project: Singing and Performing Spaces of Hope
Introduction
An Introductory Sketch: The Choir Project
Performing the Future
The “No Comment Choir”: The First Anniversary of the Revolution
Theatrical Moves: Zobaida
Participant Perspectives
Summary
Chapter 2: Studio Art in the Revolutionary and Postrevolutionary City
Artistic Contexts
Hany Rashed: Explorations in the Surreal
Bassem Yousri: The Absurd in Revolution, Aesthetics, and Interpersonal
Understanding Yasmine ElMeleegy: Healing Private and Public Bodies
Summary
Chapter 3: Writing the New Imagination: Exploring the Real in the Unreal
Mennat Allah Samy: A Personal Sketch
Hani Abdel Mourid: Myth, Metafiction, and Magical Realism in Ana al-‘alam (I Am the World)
Summary
Chapter 4: Faces of the Past and the Future: Street Art in the Postrevolutionary City
The Egyptian Citizen
Wall Context: Policeman by Salma Samy
Ammar Abo Bakr’s Portrait of Hisham Rizq
Wall Context: The King Is Back
Pharaonism in Street Art
Summary
Chapter 5: Conclusion
The Body
Metanarrative and Metafictional Elements
Looking Inward
Spaces of Hope
Notes
Bibliography