Talk:
At the Corner of a Dream
with Bahia Shehab
In 2015, I started painting on the streets of cities around the world because the streets of Cairo were no longer accessible to me. I paint poetry by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish using new forms of Arabic letters. So far I have painted walls in Vancouver, NY, Madison, Marrakesh, Tokyo, Istanbul, Cephalonia, Beirut, Amsterdam, Stavanger, and Paris. It does not matter if the work is not in Cairo, there are no borders for ideas. If my images can be uploaded online then the message will find its way. In this presentation, I will share the work that started during the Egyptian uprising in Cairo in 2011 and continued on walls in different cities around the world.
About Bahia Shehab
Bahia Shehab is an artist, designer and art historian. She is associate professor of design and founder of the graphic design program at The American University in Cairo. Her artwork has been on display in exhibitions, galleries and streets internationally and was featured in the 2015 documentary Nefertiti’s Daughters. Her work has received a number of international recognitions and awards; TED fellowship (2012) and TED Senior fellowship (2016), BBC 100 Women list (2013), The American University in Beirut distinguished alumna (2015), Shortlist for V&A’s Jameel Prize 4 (2016), and a Prince Claus Award (2016). Her publications include “A Thousand Times NO: The Visual History of Lam-Alif”. She is the first Arab woman to receive the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture.