Born in 1989 in Cairo, Egypt, based in Cairo, Egypt
Mohamed Monaiseer's practice is rooted in oral traditions, local myths and legends, and the organic dynamics that underpin storytelling. Preoccupied with colonial history and its contemporary remnants, he approaches transmission processes as opportunities for reclaiming narratives. Greatly inspired by the temporalities and know-how of craftsmanship, Mohamed Monaiseer resorts to ritualized, meticulous, and meditative gestures, imbued with a powerful sense of tradition.
Through encounters and anecdotes, he collects the words and materials tales are made of. Wandering the streets of the cities sheltering him, he gathers fabrics, beads, scraps, mixtures, dyes, and patterns that shape experiences. Frightened by the neutrality of the young and the new, he finds solace in the traces of wear and tear on things that are old, marked by a quiet spirituality. He marvels at individual stories and weaves them into a collective, contemporary, and polyphonic narrative. In doing so, he takes part in their journey, their transformation through each retelling, translating them into a new language: that of forms, inscribed in matter.
Attentive to the subtle symbolic movements in each story, Mohamed Monaiseer questions in his works the ideas of truth and fantasy, drawing attention to the elements missing from the plot, things implied rather than stated. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, past and present, he invites us to listen and look closely at the countless details whose richness transcends the limits of a singular reality.
Written by Juliette Gaufreteau.