Wael Shawky

Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Wael Shawky, in both the Factory and first-floor gallery spaces. This will be the artist's first solo show in Cairo since 2006. These recent videos and drawings reveal Shawky's continuing investigation into how cultures contrast and combine. Through strategies such as storytelling, performance, and reenactment, often making use of child actors, Bedouin landscapes, or featuring the artist himself, Shawky distills complex sociocultural issues into arresting images and narratives. At once playful and multilayered, his works are symbolic explorations of contemporary Egypt and beyond. Also on view in the gallery is a set of drawings that accompanied Telematch Suburb as part of a larger installation in the Santa Fe Biennial. The drawings were inspired by a visit to Santa Fe's Museum of International Folk Art, where Shawky was struck by how the region's hybrid history is retold. In the museum displays-nowhere more apparent than in the large toy collection-Native American and Spanish identities are condensed into simple, readable forms. Wael Shawky, b. 1971, Alexandria; lives and works in Alexandria. (Townhouse Gallery, Cairo)