DUBAI: “Frozen Memory” by Amal Kenawy will be displayed at the Sharjah Art Foundation until Jan.19.
“The Room” (2004)
“Frozen Memory” is the first retrospective of the hugely influential Egyptian visual artist Amal Kenawy since her death in 2012. Kenawy’s work covered a range of media, including sculpture, video, writing, drawing, animation and performance. This piece, a blend of video and performance in which Kenawy sewed beads onto a beating heart, featured in her first solo exhibition.
“The Purple Artificial Forest” (2005)
A series of animated drawings in which Kenawy explored her anxiety dreams. She included initial sketches and notes for the creatures that appear in the final video, showcasing the development of the work, which, typically for the award-winning artist, drew on themes of insecurity and powerlessness.
“Stop — You Will Be Killed” (2006)
Beginning with photographs of the bare walls of a military hospital she visited, Kenawy’s animated film goes on to explore her thoughts and feelings following the visit. Again, her vision is nightmarish, as a rat begins to gnaw at a lifeless female body (the artist used herself as the model), making the violence of war explicit.
