When
I was a little child and my friends were enjoying playing outside, I found that
I preferred to stay indoors with my colors, pencils and paper. I wanted to
imagine and create images as beautiful as that of the real world around me.
My
mosaic journey started with a visit to the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria,
Egypt when I was nine years old. I was really fascinated by the way the little
tiny pieces of stone (tesserae) came together to create beautiful pieces of
art. From there, my obsession with mosaics began and I would soon learn that
mosaic was much more than that.
I was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, the most populous
city in Egypt. Growing up, I was surrounded by a rich and diverse culture, which
shaped my artistic personality. I was raised in a middle-class family in Cairo.
My dad passed away when I was only ten years old. This had a huge impact on my
life since my mother had to raise my two sisters and I by herself. I soon
learned how strong and wonderful a single mother could be.
My
mother has been a great inspiration for how strong and independent a person
could be. She was, and still is, my first and lasting supporter of my decision
to enroll in art school to be a full-time mosaic artist.
After
I joined the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, I had learned that mosaic is much
more than just fitting tiny, little pieces together. We studied sculpture,
painting, color composition, color theory, and much more. I think mosaic is the
kind of art form that requires an understanding of sculpture and painting to be
able to express thoughts thoroughly. Mosaic artists need to understand sculpture so they can understand the
three dimensional form and all of its aspects such as using appropriate
materials while considering the weight in order to choose the correct support.
Meanwhile, painting is a primary tool in my mosaic work since most of my design
process starts with a sketch which is then turned into a painting and then brought
to life as a mosaic.
After
I graduated college, I was nominated to be a part of Dr. Sabry Mansour’s Mosaic
Team. We worked side-by-side under Dr. Mansour as a lead artist to create and
install four large-scale mosaic murals. These murals were for the El Ahram Canadian University and the festival
building at the Helwan University Campus. I was fortunate to grow as a
professional working on this team under such a well-known Middle Eastern
artist.
Finding
the love of my life changed my life majorly in many ways. Most importantly, however, I moved across the
world so I could be with her. This was when I decided to move to the United
States in 2010. I was agreeing to the unknown future and my only power was
Love. I moved to a different country and different culture, which turned out to
be such a wonderful and rich inspiration to me as an artist.
In
2011, I was honored to become a part of the Chicago Mosaic School’s staff as a
Teaching Artist. This was the first time
in my career that I shifted the focus from my practice as an artist to helping
growing artists refine their skill and expression in the mosaic art form. I found that I learned so much from my
students and harnessed their excitement and transferred it into inspiration to
continue to create and build mosaics. Additionally, my work with the Chicago Mosaic School allowed me to meet
and work with several international visiting artists. The most impactful experience that I have had
working with there would have to be the artwork that I created working under
the renowned artist, Verdiano Marzi, in one of his annual visits to the
school. It was in this workshop that I
truly learned to appreciate the beauty and meaning of every single tesserae
that goes into my work.
2012
I was lucky to be offered the opportunity to work at the Hyde Park Art Center
on the Southside of Chicago. This
innovative art center serves the purpose of reaching a broad and diverse
student base. It was there that I was lucky to find students that brought, and
still bring, a wider perspective to the class and the art form based on their
diverse experiences in life. They
continuously inspire me to push boundaries and stretch the limits of the Mosaic
art form.
Towards
the end of 2012, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. I am typically not an optimistic person, and
I am quick to find everything that is wrong with a situation. However, miraculously, in this frightening
period of the unknown, I was able to see the silver lining in that this
experience taught me to appreciate all things and experiences while looking for
the positive. It was as though the
cancer treatments were a treatment for the negativity inside me, reducing the
cancer of negativity and pessimism. This
time of my life has had the most profound impact on my artwork. Prior to the diagnosis, I focused on despair
and hopelessness in my artwork. However, as I went through treatments and
became stronger, I found a new optimism in my life’s outlook. Today I am in
remission and continue to hold an optimistic outlook to life. With that, I hope
my artwork inspires hope and optimism for the future.
This
is Week 19 of 52
Artists in 52 Weeks. Thank you for reading and sharing Ahmed’s story today.
To connect with him and see more of his work, please visit the following links:
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