Caravan Exhibition Egyptian Contemporary Artists - Dr. Reda Abdel Rahman & Marwa Adel

I could not imagine Egypt without seeing Donkeys, they are everywhere, and used in all aspects of Egyptian life. In the fields, in the streets, for tourism. I have seen sugar cane fields full of all different colored donkeys, where six year old children ride the donkeys sat on top of the sugar cane leaves, it was an amazing sight, and I have seen the harsh life of the donkey that stumbles under  the weight of a mountain of bricks for  the building trade, I have seen donkeys beaten for no fault of their own, which really distressed me. In many aspects of Egyptian life the Donkey is a beast of burden, and if he is lucky he will have a good master, many donkeys are not so lucky. In both the Christian and Moslem religion the donkey is held as a symbol of peace and compassion, the donkey carried our Lord Jesus Christ with Mary and Joseph, as they fled into Egypt

In 2013  the Egyptian Contemporary Artist Dr. Reda Abdel Rahman sculpted the form of the donkey, which was then shipped to Malta to be  reproduced in fiberglass forms for artists to paint for the Caravan Festival in Cairo.

An American Reverend named Chandler suggested the exhibition as an the objective of building bridges of understanding, respect, and friendship between East and West, and between Muslims and Christians and so he commissioned Egyptian artist Reda Abd El Rahman to create 90 life-sized and quarter-sized fiberglass donkeys and invited 45 Egyptian and foreign artists to transform them into their own personal visions

Egyptian artist Reda Abd El Rahman, used his art to attack those he holds responsible for the deaths of protestors during Egypt’s revolution, his donkey is created wearing shiny black shoes on its hooves and with the head of a bearded man wearing wire rimmed glasses—he is Muslim, indicted by the prayer callous on his forehead, I am a Christian, but loved and respected  my Muslim Husband, because he was a man who prayed and had a faith and he was also a man of peace who everyone turned to to dispel arguments., I remember one day rubbing cream on a dark patch on his forehead, and he asked me what I was doing, so I told him you have a dark patch on your forehead I'm trying to blend it in for you, Lorraine, he said, 'that is my prayer spot and it is from here that my soul will leave my body when I die,' imagine my embarrassment ! Returning to Reda's donkey he was drawn to express his art by saying he was drawn to show the connection between the Donkey and the Egyptian citizens who are crushed and poor. The face is not one person but representative 'of an unhealthy troika: financial authority and the religious fascism and military mafia. I hold them responsible for all the Egyptians who died during the revolution.' Abd El Rahman's donkey also evokes a post-revolution version of the tale of the Emperor's new clothes, as the creature wears a businessman’s suit jacket, while the rear quarters wear camouflage pants and army boots.

I love the art work of Marwa Adel who explores in most of her art the human body, identity, cultural and social taboos, through photographic art.  In the Middle Eastern Society the physical body is a word surrounded by restrictions, Marwa  feels that our bodies are the medium that links us to this world, and reflects our souls.

In creating her donkey Marwa was influenced by peace, she  said she remembers the hours she spent drawing her favorite subjects as a child, so she decided to decorate her donkey with angels, birds, horoscope symbols, and flowers. 'Those drawings took me away from reality' she says. 'I wanted to represent what makes me feel peace'

the renaissance donkey