Susan Hefuna (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: سوزان حفونه) is a German-Egyptian visual artist.Hanson, Sarah P
"Susan Hefuna Uses Simple Strategy to Create Perspective-Changing Works"
''ArtInfo'', Retrieved 28 December 2014. She works in a variety of media, including drawing, photography, sculpture, installation, video and performance. She lives and works between

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 ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Early life and education

Hefuna was born in Berlin, Germany in 1962 to an Egyptian father and a German mother. Hefuna spent the first eight years of her life in Egypt, and later moved to

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, to be closer to her mother's family. In 1992, she attained a post-graduate degree from the Institute for New Media at the Städelschule in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

under

Peter Weibel Peter Weibel (; born 5 March 1944 in Odessa, USSR) is an internationally known Austrian post-conceptual artist, curator and new media theoretician. He started out in 1964 as a visual poet but soon jumped from the page to the screen within the sen ...

. Hefuna connects her Egyptian and German roots in her work, using the urban imagery, typography and traditions of both to build a bridge between the two cultures.

Work

Hefuna's drawings generally employ Indian ink for works consisting of more than one layer; for works of a single layer she usually uses watercolor. A recurring theme in her work is the mashrabiya screen, the wooden or stone lattice-work screen that features in traditional Egyptian architecture. These screens first appeared in Hefuna's drawings in 1990 and her photographs taken with a pinhole camera. In 2008 Hefuna had a solo exhibition of her work, entitled ''On the Edgware Road'', at the

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

, which drew heavily from the recent

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...

uprisings. In 2009 around 300 of her ink and pencil drawings on layered tracing paper were exhibited in the Giardini and the Arsenale venues at Fare Mondi, at the 53rd

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 ...

. Her projects are documented in the Trilogy ''Pars Pro Toto'' by editor Hans Ulrich Obrist published by Kehrer.

Exhibitions

Hefuna's work was shown on several occasions in the UK: starting at Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool (2004), and with Rose Issa Projects (2008-2014) in 2014 in the "Here and Elsewhere" exhibition at the New Museum in New York. Her work has also been exhibited at the Sharjah Biennale, in the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, and in venues in London, Brussels, Vienna, Beirut, Dubai and Istanbul.

Criticism

In a review of Hefuna's exhibition, "Navigation X Cultural," at the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, Tracy Murinik said, "Hefuna articulates a complex web of physical references in her construction of this immense and quite astonishing palmwood structure," and praised her "immaculately dense drawings" and "bold digital prints and photographs."

Awards

In 1998, Hefuna was awarded the International Award at the Cairo Biennial. In 2013 she was awarded the Contemporary Drawing Prize by the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Foundation in Paris.

Art market

Hefuna is currently represented by Pi Artworks in London and Istanbul and the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago.

References

* Leonhard Emmerling: ''Susan Hefuna: The Discreet Charm of Assimilation.'' In: Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. Fall issue, Duke University Press, 2001. * Tracy Murinik: ''Susan Hefuna: Celebrate Life.'' In: Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. summer issue, Duke University Press, 2001. * Rose Issa in conversation with Susan Hefuna. In 'Susan Hefuna: X Cultural Codes', Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2004. * Lisa Ball-Lechgar: ''Mind The Gap – Susan Hefuna.'' In: Canvas magazine, Dubai, 2007. * Aida Eltorie: ''Susan Hefuna: Creating the Dream Space.'' In: Contemporary Practices magazine, Dubai, 2009. * Mark Rappolt: ''Susan Hefuna: Everything is Drawing.'' In: Art Review. issue 46, London 2010. * Bettina Mathes: ''Susan Hefuna: Corporeal Map.'' In: Flash Art. winter issue Nr. 275, Milan, 2010. * Reinhard Ermen: ''Susan Hefuna: Zeichnen zur Zeit.'' In: Kunstforum International, issue 208, Germany, 2011. * Sarah P. Hanson: ''Susan Hefuna: An artist pivots between cultures.'' In: Modern Painters issue November, New York, 2012. * Bettina Mathes: ''Traces of You'', Universes in universe – World of Art. * Brett Littman: ''On Susan Hefuna's "Brilliant" Art'', Artspace, 2013. * Ed. Tayfun Belgin: ''Susan Hefuna. Buildings.'' Osthaus Museum. , Germany, 2014. * Museum Villa Stuck Munich: ''Common Grounds.'' Pub. by Hatje Cantz. , Germany, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hefuna, Susan 1962 births Living people 20th-century Egyptian women artists 21st-century Egyptian women artists 20th-century German women artists 21st-century German women artists Artists from Berlin Egyptian contemporary artists