TINTERA presents the first solo exhibition by Maria Saba in Cairo. Throughout the main gallery space, Saba presents four bodies of work from 2017 to the present day, in which she examines issues of identity and place in relation to living between two countries and cultures: Egypt and France.
Urban Jungle (2017-2022) is a photographic series that evokes the relationship between body language and the urban environment. Primarily focused on public spaces in both Egypt and France, the 15 black and white self-portraits mounted on aluminium and displayed like street signs, question Saba’s her ‘place’ within these various sites, illustrating the tension between the public, the private and the self.
The series Virtual Paintings (2020), are six time-based, photographic, performative and site-specific self-portraits. By revealing the slightest movement in the image, they emphasise both the temporal and the performative, immortalising a moment and slowing down time rendering the moment more visible. Without sound, these silent, moving photographs allude to the cinematic and yet they retain their photographic form.
Also on display, The Virgin’s Suicide, (2017-2022), is a multi media installation consisting of a large self-portrait, a ‘death mask’ and an audio component.
Trying to Say Something (2020), is a short duration experimental video incorporating 16mm analogue film which explores the extreme condition of confinement experienced during the lockdown of the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maria Saba (b.1996), is a visual artist working with photography, performance and multimedia installation. Born in Cairo, Saba lives and works between Egypt and France. In 2011, she began discovering the medium of photography through self-portraits. Saba completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2018 and a Masters of Visual Arts: Social and Political Actions at the University of Bordeaux in 2020. During her final years of studies, her understanding of what the camera can do as an instrument matured as she grew to acknowledge the impact of visual arts and photography on society.
TINTERA is a photographic art consultancy with a gallery in Zamalek, Cairo, and an office in London. Our aim is to raise the profile of both contemporary and historical photography in and of Egypt through a program of curated exhibitions, events and research projects. We represent artists from Egypt and elsewhere, emerging and established, with Egypt being the common inspiration in their work. We manage significant private photograph collections and advise on the acquisition and sale of photographic art.
Maria Saba : Le temps qui passe…
12 June, 2022 –5 July, 2022
TINTERA
17 Bahgat Aly Street, Zamalek, Cairo
www.tintera.art
