Fathi Hassan ( ar, فتحي حسن, born 10 May 1957) is an Egyptian-born, Italian-based artist known for his installations involving the written word.

Life

Fathi Hassan was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

in 1957 as the second son to a

Nubian Nubian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Nubia, a region along the Nile river in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. *Nubian people *Nubian languages *Anglo-Nubian goat, a breed of goat * Nubian ibex * , several ships of the Britis ...

family. His father Hassan was Sudanese and his mother Fatma was from the

Toshka Lakes Toshka Lakes ( ar, بحيرات توشكى, ) is the name given to recently formed endorheic lakes in the Sahara Desert of Egypt. Etymology The lakes are named after a Nubian village Toshka (Old Nubian: ⲧⲱϣⲕⲉⲁ) which was drowned a ...

region in southern Egypt. He attended the Kerabia school in Cairo, where he met the sculptor Ghaleb Khater.

Work

In 1979, Hassan received a grant from the Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo and moved to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He enrolled at the

Accademia di Belle Arti This is a list of the tertiary-level schools or academies of fine art in Italy that are recognised by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, the Italian ministry of higher education. Accademie di Belle Arti The offic ...

in 1980 to study set design. He graduated in 1984 with a dissertation on the influence of African art in

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

. While he was studying and in the year after graduation, Hassan also worked as an actor and set designer at

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(Radiotelevisione Italiana works) in Naples and Rome. In 1986, he moved to

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

. In 1989 Hassan was the first artist of African heritage to be invited to the "Aperto" section of the

43rd Venice Biennale The 43rd Venice Biennale, held in 1988, was an exhibition of international contemporary art, with 44 participating nations. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Prizewinners of the 43rd Biennale included: Jasper Johns (I ...

curated by

Dan Cameron Dan Cameron (born February 12, 1956 in Utica, New York) is an American contemporary art curator. He has served as senior curator for Next Wave Visual Art at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), an annual exhibition of emerging Brooklyn-based artists ...

and Giovanni Carandente. He has exhibited in numerous galleries in Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Egypt, and United States. Hassan's work often emphasizes power dynamics and the relationship between the oral and written word; drawing from his Nubian heritage, he places particular emphasis on the loss of language under the dominance of

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

. Most of his scripts are based upon

kufic Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

, but remain deliberately illegible and impossible to decipher. In his video ''Blessed Nubia'' (2002) is an analysis of the original language of Nubia. Hassan has lived and worked in Italy since 1979, dividing his time between Rome,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and

Fano Fano is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by popula ...

Life

Work

References

Further reading