Ramadan, and its accompanying festivities, is more than just a religious pillar; it s a time when families get together, when people try to do more good. Festivities, manifested in the colorful lanterns adorning every corner of every street in Egypt, to name one, have become an integral component of the holy month.
Artist Ibrahim El-Breidy thus could not have found a better time to showcase his ebullient new exhibit El-Leila El-Kebira (The Big Night). The exhibit is based on Egypt s most famous puppet operetta of the same name, written by great Egyptian colloquial poet Salah Jahin and composed by Sheikh Sayed Mekkawy.
The Big Night chronicles the last evening of a moulid (religious celebration), featuring food stalls, women dancing and children playing, all joined together by magical tunes, exuding the kind of fervor heartfelt by both the old and the young, just like the month of Ramadan.
El-Breidy takes the viewer down memory lane through a total of 33 paintings exhibited at Downtown Cairo’s gallery café, Kunst. The artist uses mixed fabrics on canvas enclosed in hessian in creations distinguished for their fiery colors and cultural richness.
The status of characters sharpens through combining small pieces of cloth, El-Breidy told Daily News Egypt, adding that he tried to adhere to the caricaturist nature of the puppets originally designed by Nagi Shaker.
“The Big Night is El-Breidy seventh show to adopt the thread-weaving technique.
The material used in his current exhibit includes grass, straw, cotton and wool, weaved in both patterns and plain colors. Like Jahin s marionettes, El-Breidy s characters adorn cultural attire of floral patterns for females and striped galabeyas for males.
Upon entering the gallery, the viewer is greeted with the first series of the exhibit: eight different pieces lined up on the right-hand side of the door. The moulid theme governs the exhibit in its entirety; except for this particular collection. A certain character from the moulid emerges as the main attraction of every piece, while the surrounding set of joyous children and cultural patterns remain largely unchanged in all eight pieces.
The first part of the series shows a big belly dancer in a floral fuchsia cloak covered with a blue turban and surrounded by merry men and women dancing. Another piece depicts a horse at the center of the canvas, ridden by a father and his two sons. The creation is complemented with a band of six men situated at the top of the canvas as they serenade gleefully.
A hummus stall, an icon of the operetta, graces the subsequent piece, dotted with sparkling lights that set the scene for the unforgettable night. Street vendors selling hummus, falafel and malban roam among the crowds.
The second space of the exhibit, located at the ground floor opposite to the serving bar, houses three other pieces, similar in subject matter and equally cheerful.
The next sets of pieces are displayed on both sides of the staircase leading to the second floor. The wall on the right carries 10 pieces that sees El-Breidy’s zooming in on his subjects. The pieces display more defined subject matter; close-ups of dancers and musical performers largely dominate this set.
This wide-ranging collection unroots its leading characters – the dancers and musicians – out of their moulid and direct the spotlight on each one of them. When viewed individually, pieces along the stairs look isolated. Yet the distinctive identity of each of these characters manages to stand out, radiating strongly in every painting even with the absence of the indelible moulid backdrop.
While most of top floor showcases dolls attached to a collection of canvases, the seemingly absurd design that encloses them falls short of fully conveying the joyous vibe felt in the rest of the show. The last conclusive piece is quite powerful though, acting as an exultant gathering of the moulid’s idols.
The exhibition does suffer from poor curating, leaving pieces unevenly hanging and rarely aligned. Overall though, “The Big Night manages to overcome its shortcomings with its engaging manifestations and infectious jubilant nature.
“The Big Night is currently showing at Kunst Gallery, 28 Sherif Street, Downtown Cairo. Tel: (02) 2391 2600. The exhibit closes on September 7.
