CSA PRESENTS
The Art Exhibition
Egypt from Within and Afar
September 5th – October 29th
This September, CSA is proud to host the first of a series of bi-monthly exhibitions of local female artists. Our first two featured artists are Egyptian born Magda Abou El Fetouh and Egyptian-Canadian/British Vanessa Bahgat.
Magda Abou El Fetouh
From as early on as elementary, Magda Abou El Fetouh has been passionate about art. After a short period of hardly touching her paints and brushes during higher education, El Fetouh rediscovered her passion and for the last seventeen years has solidly pursued her art career. Having grown up and lived most of her life in Egypt, El Fetouh feels a strong connection with almost every place in Egypt she visits. The 52 year old has had her art exhibited in over 20 art exhibitions in Cairo including The Russian Cultural Center in 1992 and 1994, Hanager Gallery in 1997 and 2000 and The American University in Cairo’s Ewart Hall in 2002. More recently, she branched out of Egypt and went all the way to Chile, participating in an exhibition at The Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia in 2003.
Vanessa Bahgat
25 year old Vanessa Bahgat was brought up in Montreal, Canada and has been living in Egypt for the last eight years. Coming from an Egyptian-British background, her paintings represent visions obtained through her own interpretations of the Egyptian culture and its context. Attempting to catch the essence of Egyptian society drives her to continue painting and sketching, continuously building upon her existing knowledge. “The more I understand about the culture, the more I portray in my art,” she explains. Bahgat has been involved in three exhibitions previously; two at The American University in Cairo in 2002 and 2004 and one at the Canadian Residence in 2005. CSA will be her fourth exhibition.
The Connection
These two artists met through a mutual friend six years ago and have since formed a strong and lasting connection very much based on art. “Magda has been both a teacher and inspiration to me and I’ve learnt a lot through her,” Bahgat says. “We’ve spent many days and nights in her colourful studio discussing, sketching, and painting our impressions of Old Cairo and Egypt. It’s been eye opening.”