Overview

Born in Cairo, in 1939, Fahmy has always been an independent artist, practicing since her debut solo exhibition in 1976. She has been steadily producing and exhibiting her work, with calm and serenity, which indeed characterizes her essence. Over the years, Fahmy’s emotional state and environment have been reflected in her paintings. Her many portraits follow mostly a triangle shaped composition, with the sitter looking directly at us or purposefully into the distance. Her subjects vary from family to unnamed persons, yet she portrays all of them with an equal intimate and empathetic eye. On the other hand, Fahmy’s landscapes aptly express the wandering eye of a stranger - tourist in an unfamiliar land, depicting every country she has visited with its own unique palette. Amongst them, Tunis with its tinted whites, Spain with its terracotta reds, and Egypt with its jewel tones and ochres. In fact, Egypt had its fair share of palettes in Wissam Fahmy’s repertoire, a reflection of her local travels including Siwa, El Arish, Luxor, Aswan, El Menya and Sinai, each with its own particular set of colours. Yet the stranger’s eye remains the same. There is a thread of familiarity in each of her paintings regardless of its subject; a result of the curiosity and wonder of the artist. Fahmy’s paintings tread a thin line between that which is real and what is imagined. Although, the vistas and scenes she presents are unfamiliar and fantastical, they somehow appear to be recognizable. Fahmy's depicts her protagonists, buildings and nature with the same degree of poetry. She constructs her scenes as a sculptor molds his clay. The resulting works are dream-like, organic portrayals of people and scapes that appear at once both familiar and mysterious. Wissam Fahmy's self-titled exhibition is an interesting multi - subject collection of exquisite works that should not be missed.