The Rites of Passage, an installation exhibition by artist Yasmine El-Meleegy, will open at the Townhouse Gallery in downtown Cairo on 11 February.

The exhibition, her first solo, explores the concept of mending and restoring broken things, in both the private and public sphere, and how it connects the past with the present.

As mentioned in the exhibition statement, the idea began with the repair of a doll her father had gifted her mother on their wedding day.

The artist went on to explore the sentimental and metaphysical meanings behind the act of repairing and renovating and altering.

Juxtaposing this personal aspect with the context of restoring architecture and monuments in Egypt.

El-Meleegy looks into how “Any restoration process faces a doublethink; it may either stage a regressive return to a past functionality, or proceed with a progressive imagination of an ulterior future.”

In addition to a video art piece, the body of work at the exhibition is described in the statement as “a garden of materiality; cement, brick, wax, porcelain, prints, and painting containing objects in the process of renovation.”

El-Meleegy's work has been exhibited widely in Egypt as well as internationally in group exhibitions.

She was a winner of the two-week residency at the Egyptian Arts Academy in Rome, Italy from the 24th Youth Salon.  

In 2015 she was selected among 8 Egyptian artists to exhibit at the Mediterranea 17 Young Artists Biennale in Milan, a multidisciplinary exhibition in Italy bringing together more than 100 artists from Europe and the Mediterranean countries.

In 2016 she was part of the MASS programme forContemporary Arts in Alexandria. 

Programme:
The exhibition opens on 11 February at 7pm and runs till 28 March
Townhouse factory space, 6 Nabarawy St., off Champolion St., Downtown, Cairo

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