Cairo’s Helwan Faculty of Fine Arts has cooperated with Cairo International Airport to provide artwork to adorn the departure and arrival halls of the airport's new building, reported Rania El-Damasy for Al-Ahram Daily.

The cooperation came after the Cairo Airport administration formed a committee that visited the Fine Arts Faculty which is headed by Safiya El-Qabbani , to choose artworks for installation across the new building's halls.

Between sculpture, murals, oil and watercolor paintings, 40 works were selected.

The pieces reflect Egyptian culture and range in subject matter from folk to landscape paintings, to contemporary pieces with Islamic and ancient Egyptian influences.

Artists whose works were selected include Mohamed El-Allawy, Ahmed Nabil, Mohamed Ghalib, Taher Abdelazim, Ehab El-Toukhy, Sherif Hendawy, Sameh El-Banany, Heba Abdelhafiz, Fatma Abdelrahman, Nabil Metwaly, Adel Shaaban and Emad Rizk.

Most of the selected oil paintings will be placed in the new building's VIP hall.

El-Qabbani stated that the selection process was tough, given the high quality of the artworks, conceptually and artistically.

A consulting committee was formed by the faculty and comprised of Ahmed Gad, Ahmed Hosny, Amal Abdo and Hany Hosny.

According to Al-Ahram Daily, members of the consulting committee were adamant on mantaining complete transparency and decided not to present their own artwork for selection. The committee also refrained from identifying the names of artists during the selection process.

 “We are finalising the installation process for the soft opening on 1 September,” stated El-Qabbani.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has yet to announce the new building's official opening date.

The Faculty of Fine Arts was founded in 1908 by Prince Youssef Kamal.

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