Osama Esid, juego de representaciones; el experimento egipcio, Casa Arabe, front cover and p. 43 (another work from the edition illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
Osama Esid’s perceptive and playful images pay homage to the everyday people that occupy the Egyptian urban landscape. Depicting workers, villagers and leisurely figures, Esid’s images indiscriminately capture and reflect the human makeup of Egypt’s urban scenery. In “Man On Jawa” Esid depicts an Egyptian man riding a motorbike. Shown in indigenous Arabic clothing, the man symbolises the convergence of tradition and technology, and presents us with an image that contains a visual interplay between artefacts of the past (the clothing) and the apparatus of modernity (the motorbike). Ultimately, Esid’s portrayal reminds us that for society to function, the objects of tradition and modernity must co-exist in harmony.
2008 Digital print. 111.2 x 80.5 cm. (43 3/4 x 31 3/4 in). Signed, titled, numbered of five and dated 'Osama Esid 2008 The Fantastic Jawa' along the lower edge. This work is from an edition of five.