Survivors | نَاجُون
Sara Tantawy
12 Jan - 10 Feb 2023
12 January - 10 February 2023
Opening Reception: Wednesday, 12 January at 7pm
Fann À Porter, The Workshop Dubai
Fann À Porter is pleased to present Survivors, a solo exhibition by Sara Tantawy,
opening 12 January at 7pm.
About the Exhibition
Sara Tantawy’s latest paintings capture the gestures and movement of traditional dancers in order to explore an ancient practice that for centuries has allowed communities to narrate and process the challenges of life events. The paintings featured in the artist’s solo exhibition Survivors describe how Eastern dance (or belly dancing in layman’s terms) has evolved as a communal practice that is at once deeply personal and informed by collective memory, allowing performers and their audiences to work collectively through emotional responses such as grief, pain, exhaustion, resilience, and euphoria.
In an accompanying artist statement, Tantawy notes that this specific form of dance demonstrates a “cultural inheritance rooted in nature” while reflecting a state of deep connection to one’s body and soul. Drawn to the potential of dance to serve as a transcendental experience, she depicts performers who appear to have reached a spiritual state of mind while simulating growth cycles found in nature, like the ebb and flow of tides.
In a painting titled Earth Tune (2022), for example, an elegant female dancer sits near a shallow body of water, shown mid gesture as though imitating the rings of a puddle. The water surrounding the stone upon which she is perched reflects plant life, what seems to be the inspiration for her movement, positioning her as a medium for the earth’s own fluctuations.
The exhibition will open on Wednesday at 7 pm at Fann À Porter, gallery space located at The Workshop Dubai, located at Villa 45 - St. 23b - Al Wasl Rd opposite Box Park - Jumeirah 2, Dubai, U.A.E.
About the Artist
Sara Tantawy’s realist paintings explore a range of human emotions, using allegory and metaphor to describe profound experiences. Her ability to render figures with painstaking detail while creating pensive depictions of isolated figures establishes her work as part of a long tradition of painting, one that aims to unearth the psychological dimensions of portraiture in order to facilitate a reflective experience for the viewer. In her most recent oil on canvas paintings, she invokes the grace and elegance of traditional Egyptian folk dancers as ancient cultural forms that are at once cathartic and transporting.
Based in Cairo, Tantawy (b. 1994) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Helwan University in 2017, and has been active in Egypt and abroad since then. She has participated in large-scale exhibitions and competitions such as the Beijing International Biennale (2019), the Luxor International Painting Symposium (2020), the Dafen International Oil Painting Biennale, from which she received an award in 2021, and the Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh (2022). Other notable events for the artist include a solo exhibition at Motion Gallery in Cairo (2022) and a group exhibition of Egyptian artists hosted by Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy in Washington D.C. (2022).
About Fann À Porter
Fann À Porter is a contemporary art gallery at The Workshop Dubai that represents a diverse selection of emerging international and regional artists.
The gallery aims to nurture the burgeoning and dynamic contemporary art scene through quality exhibitions, non-profit events, auctions, and an active community program.
The gallery’s exhibition program includes eight curated exhibitions a year, and features artists working across diverse media.
Fann À Porter has established a series of dialogues and collaborations with curators, writers, governmental entities, and institutions to affirm its commitment to support the long-term development of young contemporary artists from the Middle East.
By hosting a regular public programming including exhibitions, talks, non-profit and charitable initiatives and by participating in fairs, Fann A Porter has established itself in forefront of the region’s exciting arts landscape.
Founded in 2006 by Ghada Kunash, Fann À Porter is based at The Workshop, a unique inter-disciplinary community space consisting of an art gallery, a sustainable store, design studio, and a cafe. The Workshop aims to engage the audiences, and support the development of Dubai’s arts scene through its extensive programs, educational initiatives, and community projects.
For more information and for interviews, please contact at fann@theworkshopdubai.com.
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