Anna s Egypt: An Artist s JourneyBy Anna BoghiguianThe American University in Cairo Press, 2003Paperback Edition
CAIRO: One of the things that draw us to artists is their extraordinary interpretation of our seemingly ordinary environment. Scenes that we encounter in our everyday lives take on an enigmatic beauty when a talented artist transfers it into their sketch pad.
Anna Boghiguian, one of Egypt s most notable contemporary artists, accomplishes just that. She traveled through Egypt, sketch book in hand, and captured the beauty of its people as well as its scenery. These sketches narrate historical anecdotes and descriptions she writes of each city she visits. Her writing is as descriptive as her sketches, and they compliment each other beautifully.
The scene at Groppi s: impoverished aristocrats, the ladies with faces powdered like a Japanese theater mask, gentlemen with glassy eyes and static expression. Time was stopped; the present was nonexistent for them . They posed for a drama in which they could not participate, writes Boghiguian of the popular locale during Nasser s era.
On the opposite page is her sketch, drawn in rough charcoal grey strokes, comes to life. A sofragi (waiter) dressed in a striped galabeya carries a tray as he walks by a woman seated at her table staring vacantly ahead.
Some of her sketches feel incomplete, like that of Luxor s Karnak Temple, leaving you with a fleeting impression. While others are crammed with detail, like the sketch of the taverna life in Alexandria, leaving you to discover all the different vignettes portrayed within the one image: a middle-aged man seated at the bar nursing a drink; a sailor chatting up a woman; and the musicians in the background, sketched so lightly you wonder if the music can be heard over the noise of the more boisterous patrons.
The book has been in bookstores for a few years now, often pushed aside to make way for the more recent publications. Next time you re browsing through the art section, it’s worth taking the time to search for it. Boghiguian s drawings and writings will take you on a tour of an inspiring country, and its remarkable people.
Anna Boghiguian was born in Cairo in 1946. Having graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1969 with a Bachelor s in economics and political science, she then went on to study under Fouad Kamel in Egypt. She obtained her BFA in visual arts and music from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Boghiguian is considered to be one of Egypt s leading contemporary artists.
