Neama El Sanhoury’s upbringing in what she describes as a cultured household is primarily what cultivated her profound appreciation and commitment to rectifying Egypt’s wealth of historical and civilizational customs and heritage. Naturally, El Sanhoury pursued her studies in a similar direction, specifically in applied arts as well as Egyptology, archaeology and art therapy in France, before embarking on her career in art. El Sanhoury has also previously worked as an art lecturer, an interior designer as well as in the tourism sector. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group settings since 1995, both locally and internationally in France, Morocco and Spain, and her work has garnered numerous awards and accolades from different institutions at home and abroad.

The inspirational thrust behind El Sanhoury’s captivatingly unique ‘textile painting’ stems from her dearly held childhood memories, which gave birth to her innate fixation on restoring into our collective conscience the memories of the ancient civilizations that inspire her work. El Sanhoury seeks to remedy the shared threads of Egyptian heritage, the Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic. She succeeds at presenting this to the current generation with an unmistakable contemporary appeal as something to educate, treasure and venerate. Her ‘textile paintings’ are replete with symbols and motifs drawn from Egypt’s diverse civilizational history. These include hieroglyphs inscribed on sarcophagi, traditional ornate Coptic textiles, and the familiar wooden Islamic mashrabiya. Also, the more contemporary cultural markers such as the small copper gas burners and earthenware water pots, ubiquitous features in Egyptian homes and streets, as well as the typical and symbolic animals that were an eternal part of Egypt’s daily life, such as the humble donkey, chicken, ox and duck.

Perhaps the most striking quality of El Sanhoury’s canvases are that at first glance and from afar they resemble actual paintings. Her exceptional medium is not instantly recognizable, which is partly her aim when creating her art, to establish the impression of “painting with fabric” as she says. Her art features a ceaseless element of organic movement that only the effect of fabric could portray; she compliments this with a palette that is entirely harmonious yet stimulating in terms of its subdued, natural and earthy tones.

Biography and artworks courtesy of Safarkhan Gallery, Cairo.