Ibrahim Ahmed — Artist
South x South 2016
Following up on my previous series of works Ard El Lewa, this work builds on Cairo’s most common construction material, bricks. Each brick is comprised of approximately 100 layers of textiles from around the world, particularly the global south, available in local markets. Bricks are the fundamental building units of Cairo’s, and Ard El Lewa’s, architecture, it is also a global building material that is transnational and omnipresent. Each unique piece is created through a production process that involves local laborers as well as refugees in Ard El Lewa, thus the works emerge from the area’s south-south cosmopolitanism, national uncertainty and marginality both in terms of social class and national belonging. The tension between the appearance of hardness, associated with bricks, and their materiality, compiled layers of textile, challenge accepted notions of perception and reality. Each sculpture holds its own aesthetic characteristics revealing different pieces of the many components that create its solidity, yet presented together, the work displays commonalities and similarities as they are formed from the same strands. Fragments of numerous cultures create seemingly individual units with more in common than meets the eye.
After the Canal there was only “our” world Installation shot, Museum & Galleries Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2019
After the Canal there was only “our” world (detail), Museum & Galleries Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2019
After the Canal there was only “our” world (detail), Museum & Galleries Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2019
After the Canal there was only “our” world (detail), Museum & Galleries Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2019
After the Canal there was only “our” world (detail), Museum & Galleries Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2019
After the Canal there was only “our” world (detail), Museum & Galleries Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2019
After the Canal there was only “our” world (detail), Museum & Galleries Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2019
Untitled ‘A’ (side) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘A’ (front) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘C’ (side) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘C’ (front) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘C’ (back) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘D’ (front) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘D’ (back) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘F’ (side) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Untitled ‘F’ (front) 10x21x5cm Mixed Media 2016 – selected from 51
Installation Shot – Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU – 2021 – Photography by David Hale
Installation Shot – Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU – 2021 – Photography by David Hale
Detail – Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU – 2021 – Photography by David Hale
Detail – Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU – 2021 – Photography by David Hale
Detail – Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU – 2021 – Photography by David Hale
Detail – Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU – 2021 – Photography by David Hale
Installation Shot – Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU – 2021 – Photography by David Hale
Only Dreamers Leave 2016 Next
Ard El Lewa 2015/2016