Time has always been at the forefront of Zeinab Al-Sageny's previous exhibitions. The small canvases she produced in middle life were concerned first and foremost with childhood. Place has also been present: a large portion of these works evoke the Egyptian countryside, with its palm trees, houses and winding streams. More recently however, these vague intimations of place have given way to a detailed delineation of specific locations, places we could name. Such an approach invokes the feelings the artist feels towards a specific place, detailing the emotional particulars of their response and avoiding broad generalities. These canvases throw out compositions of extraordinary beauty, innocence and delicacy dominated by white, which Al-Sageny imbues with an exceptional purity.

Farghali Abdel Hafiz