Egypt: 2000 to 2006

This series of work was inspired by many of the walls I had seen on my walks around the back streets of Cairo. I wanted to capture the atmosphere of crumbling nostalgia that I felt pervaded these streets. I particularly liked the arabic writing that was accumulated in layers, and I incorporated elements of this into the work.  I was also intrigued by the cultural associations created by the contrast between western style advertisements and the arabic graffiti. The smaller pieces were inspired by the way so many things I saw in Egypt, especially on the streets and in cafes, displayed a really strong sense of their history as objects. Things like old chairs had been broken and repaired a dozen times with anything at hand so they could continue their daily function, their surfaces marked and worn by the process of daily handling.