Van-Leo Exhibit Opens Sony Gallery’s Year

JUNE 1, 1999 The Sony Gallery’s 1998-1999 exhibitions began with a major joint presentation between the Sony Gallery and AUC’s Rare Books and Special Collections Library of the works of portrait photographer Van-Leo. The native Armenian photographer is known for glamorous portraits of such well known figures as Omar Sherif and Taha Hussein, but the show included lesser-known faces as well. The opening night began with the Sony Gallery show and then moved to the Rare Books Library, where a second exhibition of Van-Leo’s photographs along with some personal belongings was on display and where the Van-Leo collection, which he donated to the university in April 1998, is now permanently housed. The show was presented under the patronage of AUC Trustee Mr. Moataz Al-Alfi.

“Contrasts” was the theme of the November exhibition by Johanna Von Schledorn, a half-German half-Colombian artist currently living in Italy. She lived for a time in Egypt and found it to be “a land where contrasts can be found everywhere: in its architecture, its smells, landscapes, tastes, sounds and people….you should let yourself go and fall into its magic.” Her contrasts were found in scenes of daily life in Cairo, particularly Coptic Cairo, as well as in the Sinai. The show was opened by Colombian Ambassador to Egypt HE Jaime Giron Duarte.

Indiana-born photographer Darryl Jones captured “The Timelessness of the Moment” in the gallery’s December showing. Jones once reflected that “film allows light to record a passing moment in time, and that moment opens up to eternity beyond time. If the viewer [is] in harmony with the moment, then he might transcend the ‘subjective continuity of the mind,’ recognizing the ‘primordial harmony of things.’” The moments he captured in this show included scenes of nature, faces of working people, and moments from religious places and services. The guest of honor opening night was Dr. Sayyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University.

Echos of the Palestinian experience could be seen in “Bosnia: A Land Dreaming of Peace,” the March exhibit by Khaled El-Fikki. The first Egyptian photographer to visit Bosnia, El-Fikki traveled to Sarajevo, Mostar, and Tuzla to look at the plight of the people living in a state of war and to record moments in their daily lives. Refugee camps, funerals, and demonstrations were frequent themes, and the photographer found that the trial of a life under war “was reflected in the faces of the people, who had to go through hardships just to get basic necessities such as water and wood.” El-Fikki also found moments of light in the call to prayer, the marketplaces, and children in school. Mr. Avdija Hadrovic, Charge d’Affaires of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was guest of honor at the show’s opening night.

Nineteen members of the Pioneers of Photography in Egypt Society participated in an exhibit titled “Faces” in April, opened by Dr. Mohammed Abdel Qader Hatem, former General Supervisor of Specialized National Councils. Many of the faces were very well known ones: Naguib Mahfouz, Tawfik El Hakim, Hassanein Heikal, and Mustafa Amin among them. “The face is a human secret,” wrote Dr. Adel Gazarin, one of the featured photographers, “and so it will remain as long as the enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa charms art lovers.”

French photographer Gilles Perrin, in the final show of the year, focused on the street life of Alexandria, a city which he says has particularly captivated him during his six years of travels in Egypt. “I found the throbbing vitality of the city, the human faces glowing in this contrasting light so special to Alexandria, so overwhelming…. It left me with the need to share this mysterious fascination with the city.” The scenes he captured were ones of daily life in the city’s streets and squares.

The Sony Gallery’s 1999-2000 season will begin October 4 with “L’Orient: The Photographs of Lehnert and Landrock.”