In Gravity, Ahmed Kassim depicts bees and birds to be about the same size as the astronauts. Courtesy Gallery Ward
In Gravity, Ahmed Kassim depicts bees and birds to be about the same size as the astronauts. Courtesy Gallery Ward
In Gravity, Ahmed Kassim depicts bees and birds to be about the same size as the astronauts. Courtesy Gallery Ward
In Gravity, Ahmed Kassim depicts bees and birds to be about the same size as the astronauts. Courtesy Gallery Ward

Egyptian artists are busy bees at new Dubai exhibition The Hive


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The higher your perspective, the less you can make out the differences between us. From space, mankind on Earth could resemble bees in a hive, crawling around, working on their own tasks mindless of the larger world around them and focusing only on the honey.

This is one of the messages that the artist Ahmed Kassim is trying to get across in his current exhibition in Dubai.

“There is not a big difference between our life and the life of bees,” he says. “It’s the same idea. We work to eat and we circle around the same hives or ideas and I wonder whether we question what we are doing.”

In Gravity, one of the largest paintings, birds and bees find their way through the mountainous landscape that is also populated with astronauts and space ships. The result is an altered sense of perception that forces the viewer to question the size of the insects and, therefore, what they represent.

In another piece, Bear Attack, the bees form more ordered lines under the watchful eyes of large bears, whose coats are made up of the flags of the United Kingdom, United States and Turkey.

“The bear can be a friend or a foe,” explains Kassim. “Sometimes they are cuddly and cute and other times they are dangerous – just like people in real life.”

Kassim is part of a young generation of Egyptian artists making their mark on the regional contemporary-art scene.

It is part of the ethos of Gallery Ward to provide a platform for these artists, especially since the 2011 political unrest in Egypt.

Ehab El Labban, a prominent curator and artist, who has twice curated the Cairo Biennial and is also the co-owner of the Dubai gallery, says that Kassim has a “special” talent.

“I came up with the concept of the beehive for an exhibition some years ago,” he explains, “but I was looking for the right artist to take it on. I started working with Ahmed about a year and a half ago and I knew he was the right person for the job.”

Although some canvases are relatively simple and just portray the motion of bees amid the dripping honey, others are rich narratives that reveal a fictional world that Kassim has created.

He chose to include astronauts to force the viewer to remember that life is not all about working and collecting money or honey, it is also about finding a balance between the physical and spiritual worlds.

“At certain points, there is a need to open one’s mind to the different perspectives of this work that we share with other beings and to see that we are all connected,” says El Labban. “By focusing on a beehive, we can see that point of view more easily.”

But other than the spiritual readings, there are also obvious political references such as the bears dressed as superpowers who are not sure if they are friends or foes. In two other paintings, Invasion and Human Attack, where the beekeepers are depicted as chemical-weapons inspectors smoking out their prey.

“Here the bees are wearing gas masks, just like the protesters did in Tahrir Square,” says Kassim. “I sometimes question whether some people really wanted the revolution or if they would rather just go back to thinking about their work.”

El Labban continues his train of thought to explain that the show looks at the revolution from a broader level of the cycle of life.

“He analyses resistance and defence as well as victory and defeat, body and soul and, finally, the ultimate dichotomy – good and evil.”

Of all the paintings in the show, the one that attempts to summarise all the themes is fittingly called The Hive. In it, Kassim has simply wrapped a swarm of bees in a balloon-like bubble of honey.

“Life is like this, we make it very complicated, but in the end it can pop like a balloon, in one second it can be over,” he says. “If you lose your life without thinking about why God created you or what you are living for, you will lose ­everything.”

• The Hive runs until March 7 at Gallery Ward. For more information, visit www.galleryward.com

UAE squad

Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)

Her most famous song

Aghadan Alqak (Would I Ever Find You Again)?

Would I ever find you again
You, the heaven of my love, my yearning and madness;
You, the kiss to my soul, my cheer and
sadness?
Would your lights ever break the night of my eyes again?
Would I ever find you again?
This world is volume and you're the notion,
This world is night and you're the lifetime,
This world is eyes and you're the vision,
This world is sky and you're the moon time,
Have mercy on the heart that belongs to you.

Lyrics: Al Hadi Adam; Composer: Mohammed Abdel Wahab

The line up

Friday: Giggs, Sho Madjozi and Masego  

Saturday: Nas, Lion Bbae, Roxanne Shante and DaniLeigh  

Sole DXB runs from December 6 to 8 at Dubai Design District. Weekend pass is Dh295 while a one day pass is Dh195. Tickets are available from www.soledxb.com

Race card

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

While you're here