Sabah Naim (born 1967) is a

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

Egyptian

multimedia artist Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditio ...

. Her work focuses on documenting people and scenes in

Cairo, Egypt 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 ...

, and incorporates

street photography Street photography (also sometimes called candid photography) is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Although there is a difference between street and ca ...

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on c ...

, and

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

Biography

Naim received a bachelor of fine arts (1990), master of fine arts (1996), and PhD in

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

(2003) from the College of Art Education, Cairo, where she was a student of Mohammed Abla. She was the first person in her family to receive an advanced degree, and used proceeds from sales of her art to support her parents and brothers. Naim has served on the faculty of art education at both Helwan University and her alma mater.

Process and work

Taking inspiration from the anonymous environment of Cairo's busy streets, Naim's primary artistic process begins with photographing or filming people in public settings. She typically enlarges these figures to life-size or greater when printing her work in black-and-white on paper or canvas. Installed in a gallery setting, Naim's decontextualized portraits may also suggest reconfigured street scenes for the viewer to navigate. These photographic prints are sometimes hand-colored, collaged with rolled-up newspapers, or adorned with hand-painted motifs of circles, dots,

arabesques The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

, and other symbols. In addition, Naim has exhibited both drawings and paintings entirely composed of repeating shapes and colors, with a focus on naturalistic forms like flowers, stars, and trees. The repetitiveness of these common symbols in her work, which are found in both modern and traditional artistic traditions around the world, is meant to highlight shared experiences in the human condition. Furthermore, critics have noted that Naim's work reflects themes of modernization and globalization in urban Egypt, as well as raises questions about cultural

binaries A binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. The term "binary file" is often used as a term meaning "non-text file". Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; for example, some computer document file ...

, such as

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...

and

feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...

, contemporary and traditional,

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

and

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

, and

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

and

handicrafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

Exhibitions

Naim has exhibited internationally, including the fiftieth

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(2003), the

Havana Biennial The Bienal de La Habana was founded in 1984. It takes place in Havana (Cuba) every two years. It principally aims at promoting the developing world in contemporary art circles, giving priority to Latin American and Caribbean artists, although art ...

(2003); and the touring exhibitio
Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent
(2004). Her works are also located in the permanent collections of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London as well as the

Egyptian Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture of Egypt is a ministry responsible for maintaining and promoting the culture of Egypt. The current minister is Ines Abdel-Dayem, former chairperson of the Cairo Opera and one of six women in the Egyptian Cabinet. Histor ...

and in the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, both in Cairo.

Solo exhibitions

*B21 Gallery Dubai 2008 *Lia Rumma Gallery, Naples, Italy 2007 *Karin Francis, Cairo, Egypt 2006 *Cairo Atelier, Cairo, Egypt. 2004 *Lia Rumma Gallery, Milan, Italy. 2004 *8th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba 2003 *Part of Cairo Modern Art in Holland Circus theater, The Hague, Holland. 2001 *The Institute, Cairo, Egypt. 2001 *Gezira Arts Center, Cairo, Egypt 2000 *Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt 2000 *Cairo Atelier, Cairo, Egypt 1998

Group exhibitions

*''Histories of Now: Six Artists from Cairo'' 2014 Colby College Museum of Art, (anniversary of the first protests in (

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English language, English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political dem ...

) *''Art Basel Miami Beach'' 2009 Art Basel *''Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East'' 2006 The British Museum *''50th International Venice Biennale'' 2003 The Venice Biennale

References

External links

Sabah Naim official website

1967 births Living people Multimedia artists Egyptian women artists College of Fine Arts in Cairo alumni Artists from Cairo {{artist-stub