Ibrahim Ahmed

Ibrahim Aahmed's latest body of work, Ard el-Lewa, explores themes that we might call existential non-places such as transnational identity, migration and borderlessness. The series is composed by mixed media pieces in the form of an assemblage of cloth fragments painted with acrylic wall paint, finally distressed and faded.

Ard el-Lewa series visually draws on tapestry traditions found across the Silk Road countries and beyond. From a formal point of view, the pieces recall various decorative motifs, architectural elements and artistic references shared by a variety of cultures, going beyond the modern constructions of so-called authentic insular national cultures. The works, created in one of Cairo’s popular yet marginalized urban areas, stem from Ahmed’s personal immigrant experience. Ard el-Lewa is a collection of works reflecting on ambiguity, in-betweeness, and the fallacy of authenticity as a governing concept for identity construction.