Layer of Green: Photography exhibition at CIC

Cairo's Contemporary Image Collective hosts a photography exhibition, Layer of Green, showcasing the work of young photographers from Cairo and Alexandria that focuses on the environment.  The participating photographers are Ahmed Hamed, Ahmed Safyeldin, Amr El-Maghraby, Ebrahim El-Moly, Manar Morsi, Maryam Ahmed, Mai El-Shazly, Mireille El-Magrissy, Nadia Mounier, Sara Sallam and Wafaa Samir. The exhibition is the result of a workshop organised by the Goethe Institute and the CIC Photo School last November that focused on the social, cultural, political and economic context of “the layer of green” or the environment.

Exhibition runs until 16 April
22 Abdel Khalek Tharwat St., 4th Floor, Downtown Cairo

Maryam Ahmed's work in Layer of Green exhibition at the Contemporary Image Collective, CIC (Photo: Soha Elsirgany)

Crossroads: Alfons Louis and Sarkis Tossoonian at Safarkhan

Two Egyptian sculptors from the seaside city of Alexandria, Alfons Louis and Sarkis Tossoonian, will exhibit their works at Safarkhan this month. The works of both artists carry the influences of Egypt's multifaceted heritage; from  ancient Egyptian culture to the Greco Roman civilisation to Coptic and Islamic history. The exhibition will feature bronze sculptures by Sarkis Tossoonian and works in wood, metals and engraved stone by Alfons Louis.

The exhibition runs until 16 April

11 Brazil Street, Zamalek, Cairo

Artwork by Alfons Louis. (Photo: courtesy of Safarkhan Gallery)

This year, D-CAF decided to dedicate its visual arts programme to contemporary Egyptian artist Hassan Khan. The show is the first major survey of Khan's work in Cairo. The exhibit features works produced by the internationally acclaimed artist between the mid 90s and present day. The works include text-based projects, sculptural forms, music projects, among others. The exhibition will be located in unused storefronts alongside the Kodak passageway in Downtown Cairo. The site has been designed and curated by CLUSTER in such a way that creates a series of exhibition spaces that blur the lines between the artist's diverse oeuvre and the surrounding local community.

Exhibition runs until 26 April

20, Adly St., Downtown Cairo

Hassan Khan, The Knot, 2012. (Photo: Courtesy of the artist)

Lost Referents of Some Attraction: Malak Helmy at Sharjah Art Gallery

A solo exhibition by contemporary Egyptian artist Malak Helmy runs from 31 March to 26 April at the Sharjah Art Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Beirut, a Cairo-based gallery, and commissioned by AUC_LAB, a new series of exhibitions and projects spotlighting artists from the region. The solo exhibition marks Helmy's first major solo show. The Cairo-based artist works mostly with video and text. In this exhibition, Helmy adapts her works to respond to the location of the American University in Cairo’s New Cairo campus.

Exhibition runs until 26 April

AUC New Cairo Campus, New Cairo

Artwork by Malak Helmy. (Photo: Krowswork)

Sheer Strength: Collective exhibition at GIZ

This exhibition, held at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) office, in collaboration with the Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art, brings together four contemporary female artists. Entitled Sheer Strength, the show will feature works by Hala Abu Shady, Dina El-Gharib, Souad Abdel-Rasoul and Fadwa Ramadan. The diverse showcased collection includes paintings, drawings, collage, and digital photography. "From the more rigorous abstraction to a surprising overlapping of images, their trajectories of research result into works of strong visual impact," reads the curatorial statement.

The exhibition runs until 30 April

4d Al-Gezira Street, Zamalek, Cairo

Sabhan Adam and Hossam Dirar: Beauty and the Beast at ArtTalks

ArtTalks hosts an exhibition featuring works by Syrian-born artist Sabhan Adam (1973) and Egyptian-born artist Hossam Dirar (1978), who take on universal notions of beauty and ugliness through portraiture. "Each artist presents his perception of individuality by seeking to bring out whatever is common with the rest of humanity. For Sabhan Adam, it is ugliness. For Hossam Dirar, it is beauty," reads the curatorial statement.

The exhibition runs until 5 May

8 Al-Kamel Mohamed Street, Zamalek, Cairo

Artwork by Hossam Dirar. (Photo: courtesy of ArtTalks)

Toys: Hany Rashed at Mashrabia

Hany Rashed presents his latest collection of artwork in what will be his ninth solo exhibit at the Mashrabia Gallery downtown. In Toys, the artist tackles the assumption that human beings in contemporary society exist with a freedom that is limited by constraints, thus resembling toys. Rashed presents a world of plastic objects in this exhibition, paradoxically responding to contemporary reality through creating inanimate toys.

The exhibition opens 13 April and runs until 15 May

8 Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo

Artwork by Hany Rashed. (Photo: courtesy of Mashrabia Gallery)