The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

After an eight-year hiatus, Cairo International Biennale, returns for the 13^th round, taking place at Cairo Opera House’s Palace of Arts, and Museum of Egyptian Modern Arts, as well as Center of Arts (Aisha Fahmy’s Palace)in Zamalek. Featuring French artist Gerard Garouste as this edition’s Guest of Honour, the exhibition, also gathers a spectrum of works by over 70 artists from various countries around the globe.

Artists from Iraq, Austria, Lebanon, Belgium came all the way to Cairo to participate in the Biennale that first started in 1984, and along came the Colombian artist Camilo Arias, with whom we had the pleasure of interviewing for our sister website Cairo Gossip.

After finishing his academic training in Audiovisual Media and 3D Animation, Arias decided to head back to the roots of fine art, transforming his vision into paintings using acrylic paints and mixed media. He participates in this round of Cairo International Biennale with Unity in Diversity; an intricate and colourful piece that – as the name reveals – promotes coexistence, diversity, and peace.

“It is necessary to realise the individuality that we represent culturally and socially, to respect and coexist with the other colours of this social rainbow, to be a single harmonic component”.

Comprising a prism at the centre, through which a flock of white doves fly, only to come out from the other side transformed into a number of different, colourful birds. The painting took Arias 3 months to finish, mainly due to the detailed, pattern-laden part, which Arias calls the north, or the road to peace.

Arias is now dabbing his last touches on his latest collection, which, having been working on it for the past three years, is set to reveal in an exhibition that will take place this year.

Check out Cairo Gossip’s interview with Camilo Arias here