The works on display here may contain an illusion or a trick?
The closer one gets, the more compellingly one is drawn to the very most centre of a special world – a world that does not yield itself to any concrete meaning. Strangely, however, as you move away an image takes shape with clearly identifiable scenes of street life, teeming with humanity. Its streets, alleyways, roundabouts, markets and houses are the backdrop to vibrant human activity.
The viewer finds himself in front of a jumble representing the city, the world, and the hustle and bustle of life itself. Once we find ourselves in its centre, its features blur and lose their clarity. Paradoxically, a distance must always be maintained between the viewer and the works in order not lose sight of this image. Perhaps, however, if we look at the works through slightly closed eyes, the image might emerge even more vividly.
The early 80s saw the first stirrings of the 'Labyrinth' project. For inspiration, I used to go up to the top most part of the Mukattam, the Cairo Tower or, in fact, any other towering structure. From those elevated spots I could almost feel myself soaring over the length and breadth of the city as it shimmered with movement, light and colour. In fact, the project kept coming back to entice me at sporadic intervals, leading me to actually depict it on canvas on three separate occasions.
This time round, the Labyrinth coincides with my own artistic dilemma which finds me at a crossroads between distance and proximity, abstraction and reality. All that I urge of the viewer is to maintain the required distance from the works so that the image can be viewed as an organic whole, allowing us both to abandon ourselves to the intricacies of the Labyrinth.

Mohamed Abla