Born in 1945, sculptor Tarek Zabady graduated from the sculpture department of Alexandria University’s Faculty of Fine Arts graduate, earning a diploma from the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome and another in medal art from the Yellow Graphic Institute there.

Zabady believes that, sculpture being the art of the people, students of the pioneer sculptor Mahmoud Mukhtar should create large avant-garde sculptural works expressing Egyptian identity such as Mukhtar’s The Renaissance of Egypt. 

He points out that the absence of administrative and governmental awareness in Egypt has resulted in the decline of sculptural art: “How can one talk about any artistic renaissance without the state’s intention to sponsor and celebrate the arts?”

Zabady adheres to no fixed doctrine, believing that "the freedom of the artist is his only way to understand the aesthetics of difficult materials he tames and grows intimately with, including stone, wood, bronze, copper, polyester, and others."

The artist’s adventures have no limits, not only by mixing unconventional materials and carving mythical creatures to unleash into space but also through the relations and conversations he develops between various shapes to produce complex forms and suggest various transformations. 

Zabady’s sculptures are on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, the Cairo Opera House, the Cairo International Conferences Centre, and Museum of Modern Art in Alexandria. 

*A version of this article appears in print in the 29 October, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly