Amal Kenawy
Amal Kenawy (1974–2012) was an Egyptian contemporary visual artist, best known for her notable video and performance feminist work.[1]
Biography
Amal Kenawy was born in 1974 in Cairo, Egypt. she showed interest in art of film and fashion design from an early age,There Has been many stories surrounding Amal's childhood she used to make her own clothes out of any material she could put her hands on.she was a daughter of two financially struggling parents, she was a member of a family of 6 she was youngest one in the house.s she studied film and fashion design at Egypt’s Cinema Institute and received an undergraduate degree in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Helwan University in Egypt in 1999.she was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 she passed away after a long fight with leukemia leaving behind a character that is looked up to and considered one of the most iconic female artists around the world thus to her creativity and her devotion to her work through out her life
She started her artistic career as a student, collaborating with her older brother and mentor, Abdel Ghany Kenawy. The collaboration resulted in heaps of artworks ranging from sculptures, installations and videos that gained several awards and international recognition, including UNESCO Grand Prize at the International Cairo Biennale.[2]amal married shady elnoshokaty a contemporary artist who helped her in her to begin her career however the couple got divorced amal was living with her son Yassin
Kenawy's solo work commended on more use of an intimate approach, she uses her own body alongside a representations of fragile materials, animals and found objects to express mental and physical pain and addressed themes that represented important moments in her life such as birth, marriage, death, dreams, and memory.[3] Amal Kenawy died on August 19, 2012 at the age of 38 suffering from leukemia.[4]
Notable work
- 2002 Frozen Memory, video,Photograph and Sculpture Installation
- 2003 The Room, performance
- 2004 The journey, video performance installation and wax sculpture featuring Amal wearing a white dress and floating above the floor of the room in which she is confined, only to later drop heavily on her feet to resume that twirling and floating again.
- 2006 You Will Be Killed, video animation & paintings
- 2006 Booby Trapped Heaven, video installation - photograph
- 2007 Non Stop Conversation, Video Performance Installation
- 2010 Silence of the lamb, public performance
Awards
- 1998 UNESCO Grand Prize at the 7th Cairo International Biennale.
- 1998 The AICA commission (Marseilles Art Studios), France.
- 2003 Special mention of international Ismailia festival for documentary and Short films, Egypt.
- 2004 Grant of Pro-Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, Artists residency, Aarau /Switzerland.
- 2004 The State National Prize for Art, Science, Literature, (for using Video as Visual medium, Egypt.
- 2005 The 23rd Alexandria Biennial Golden Prize.
- 2005 The global crossings prize, Leonardo International society for the arts, sciences and technology, Los Angeles, USA.
- 2006 Dakar Biennale award.
- 2006 The 12th Cairo International Biennale grand prize.
- 2010 The Sharjah International Biennial award.
- 2012 The Cairo international Biennial
References
- ↑ Hayley. "Amal Kenawy".
- ↑ Farhat, Maymanah. "Amal Kenawy (1974-2012)".
- ↑ Okeke-Agulu, Chika. "Amal Kenawy".
- ↑ "Farewell Amal Kenawy | Egypt Independent". Retrieved 2015-09-08.