The 23rd edition of the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium launched 22 January and will close 9 March with a ceremony at the Open Museum in Aswan celebrating the completion of the works by all 16 artists.

During the 45-day event, Egyptian and international artists could be seen hard at work in Aswan on their respective sculptures, with help from assistants.

One of the things the symposium presents year after year is a variety in the styles of participants, as the pieces vary from abstract compositions to organic forms, and from monumental sculptures to highly personal ones.

This edition included four foreign artists: Lyudmyla Mysko and Vasyl Tatarskyy from Ukraine, Ivane Tsiskadze from Georgia, and Siti Kanta Pattnaik from India.

The four Egyptian sculptors this year are Ahmed Magdy, Alshaimaa Darwish and Abdel Mageed Ismail, who were all in the 22nd edition's workshop, in addition to Eman Barakat from the 21st edition.

Eight workshop artists were divided into two groups, one in the first half of the symposium and another in the second half: Aya Soliman, Rawaa Mohamed, Taha Abdel Karim, Abdelrahman Alaa, Philip Adly, Mohamed Elbakry, Maisoun Mostafa and Hadeer Maged.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture