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‘My Culture Defines Who I Am’: Egyptian Artist Captures the Simple Beauty of Everyday Egypt

March 6, 2025
Courtesy of Amira Tanany.

The reality of our everyday life – from the moment we wake up to the simple, familiar rituals and movements that shape us – might not seem particularly enigmatic or inspiring. But for an artist or a writer, these ordinary moments do more than define a single person: they capture the essence of an entire culture, a nation, and the collective spirit of a community. In our everyday lives, there may be pain, and there may be struggle, but above all, there is also a deep sense of heart and a pulse of life. This is the kind of spirit that Amira Tanany, an award-winning Egyptian illustrator and associate professor at Helwan University, channels through her folkloric art. Her work tells not just the story of an individual, but of Egyptian culture, as she so poignantly expresses to Egyptian Streets, “I realized I didn’t need to create an identity – my culture already defines who I am.” In her illustration project titled Egyptian Street (2023) which won the 9th Mahmoud Kahil Award in 2024, Tanany captures the essence of Egyptian life by highlighting the seemingly ordinary moments – like an older…


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