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

Ali
Abdel Mohsen is one busy guy. Between spending time in Tahrir Square and
writing about the events that have revolved around it in the past year, he has also
found the time to work on his second solo exhibition which is currently on
display at Mashrabia Gallery in Downtown Cairo.

It
might be because of its close proximity to Tahrir that Mashrabia Gallery continues
to showcase revolution-related exhibitions, and this one continues the trend.  From the looks of it, in this reviewer’s
opinion, Abdel Mohsen seems to have spent a lot of time on the front lines in and around Tahrir
Square. A lot of his pieces show explicit violence ranging from snipers ready
to fire to sexual violence taking place. 

The
first thing that is remarkable about Abdel Mohsen’s work is that all of it is
painted on discarded cardboard. Abdel Mohsen paints different scenarios on the pieces,
sometimes with one piece showing four different scenes- one on each of the four
panels of a cardboard box. As mentioned, a lot of his work shows violence, the
most explicit being a piece showing a horse being stabbed in the neck. The
white horse sets off against the red background. There might be some reference
in this piece to February 2nd 2011, aka the battle of the horses and
camels. Another piece shows Cairo’s
rooftops with snipers aiming to the streets and ready to shoot. Abdel Mohsen often
features figures of people in the pieces, but they are usually faceless.

Animals
are also a recurring image. One piece depicts dinosaurs and another shows dog-like
human beings ruling over more faceless human figures. There are also
some normal, domestic pieces depicting scenes of an ahwa and a market. The Nile is shown
in some pieces as being red; possibly a reference to the bloodshed of the past
year.

Ali Abdel Mohsen’s pieces are very interesting
and carry profound underlying messages that might be difficult to understand
and it’s not for the fainthearted. Many artists have chosen to represent the
January 25th revolution and the demonstrations through a personal or
collective perspective, whether that be one of hope, satire or anger. Abdel
Mohsen has tried to communicate the events as they are. The picture he paints
is desolate, bleak and eerie.