CAIRO.- The Gezira Art Center announces an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Mariam Aziza Stephan at 1 ElMarsafy St., Zamalek, Cairo. This is the first solo exhibition for artist, and Fulbright Award winner Mariam Aziza Stephan in Egypt. Her current work has been in pursuit of synthesizing her interests and influences that grew out of her time in Egypt right before and into the beginning of the January 25th revolution in 2011.The exhibition comprises several chaotic imagined landscapes, sombre ruins and detritus living in the hinterland between the external world and the inner soul. They exist between representations and interiority.

“They are a dreamscape of journeys and arrivals, of objects simultaneously collapsing and growing. At first glance they appear dark, mysterious, inaccessible, post-apocalyptic even, yet upon further contemplation they invite the viewer in” states Stephan, “the strength of other more subtle colours arise, and slowly resolving edges emerge, highlighting the possibility of change and growth.” Rich in referents and allusions, both physical and psychological, you are being invited to share in a journey, to explore the potential for renewal in the face of disintegration and complexity.

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, with Afghan and German heritage, Stephan’s earliest years were spent between the two countries. Awarded a Fulbright in 2010/2011 to explore the Egyptian Fayum Mummy Portraits she said, “The Fayum portraits were of particular interest because of both their beauty and function: they were to be buried with the dead. When art is tied to something as significant as life and death, it raises the stakes of making something significant. I wanted to connect with that pursuit.”