NORA ZEID | CAIRO ILLUSTRATED: STORIES FROM HELIOPOLIS

Tashkeel is pleased to present Cairo Illustrated: Stories from Heliopolis, the debut solo exhibition by illustrator, designer and animator Nora Zeid. The exhibition explores how tourism, infrastructure and changes in the urban landscape have influenced the way Cairenes define and interact with its heritage, and the overall impact on narrative and collective memory. Nora Zeid’s solo exhibition is the final public outcome by the Critical Practice Programme 2020 cohort, and the 13th public outcome from the programme since its inception in 2014.

Cairo’s ever-changing urban landscape and recent projects such as flyover bridges have sparked debates regarding how such infrastructure affects the city’s harmony. The value of built heritage in Cairo – and Egypt as a whole – has been greatly tied to age, its celebration often reserved to pharaonic, Islamic and Coptic sites. Even then, their value is mostly linked to tourism.

Driven with a desire to re-establish her relationship with the city, Zeid gathered memories from the neighbourhoods. She found that each memory was tied to the next by space, and a virtual layer of historical facts was added to these personal experiences. This created a duality, between the personal and the general, the small and the big picture, making the topic of heritage more accessible.

Courtesy of Tashkeel

Image caption: Installation view from Cairo Illustrated: Stories from Heliopolis exhibition.