Huda Lutfi
Magnetic Bodies: Imaging the Urban
April 25–June 4, 2016
The Third Line
Al Quoz 1
Dubai
UAE
T +9714 3411 367
www.thethirdline.com
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The Third Line is pleased to present Magnetic Bodies: Imaging the Urban, Huda Lutfi’s second solo show in Dubai. The exhibition, which includes photo-collage, sculpture, installation and video works, is part of an on-going exploration which cross-examines the urban sprawl of Cairo through the lens of Huda as an artist and an historian. New works are presented alongside seminal pieces to delineate the teeming, spilling multitudes that comprise the chaotic fabric of the city. The layered visuals, marked with elements such as plastic mannequins juxtaposed against blue skies and archaeological cross-sections of the megalopolis, create surreal landscapes—suspending the idiosyncrasies and impossibilities of urbanity in unchartered space and time.
The use of the doll iconography began early in Huda’s career with her Found in Cairo (2006) and “Arayess” series (2006), which explored the effects of globalization on the production of local cultural objects and traditions. Since then, she has employed the figure of the doll repeatedly to explore the objectification and imposed modes of identity construction of the body. In the newer works, Huda explores the rich mannequin culture of Cairo and ties it to the personal and public politics that colonize a constantly evolving cityscape. Using photography as a medium of documentation, she creates bodily re-combinations through bricolage and photomontage techniques. Following 2011, Huda has incorporated more of her own photography into her collage works; inspired by the events in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the need to document became more urgent. Ever since then, Huda has employed the photographic medium to generate repeated copies of the mass-produced mannequins—an uncanny doubling that lends her work a surreal historicism.
About Huda Lutfi
Huda Lutfi (b. Cairo, 1947) is a cultural, feminist historian by professional training whose work in the field of the visual arts translates these affiliations in multiple complex ways. In 1983, she received her PhD in Arab Muslim Cultural History from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. In 2012, a self-titled monograph on Huda Lutfi was published by The Third Line.
Huda’s solo shows include: Magnetic Bodies, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2015); Cut and Paste, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2013); Huda Lutfi: Twenty Years of Art, Tache Art, Cairo (2011); Making a Man out of Him, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2010); Zan’it al-Sittat, The Third Line, Dubai (2008); From Egypt with Love; The Third Line, Dubai (2008). She has been part of important group presentations internationally including: La Bienal del Sur, Caracas, Venezuela (2015); Fotofest: View from Inside Contemporary Arab Photography Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi (2015); Homage to Moustapha Hasnaoui, Frederic Moison Gallery, Paris (2013); I am not there Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2012); Dak’Art-African Contemporary Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal (2010); Icons Reloaded, Elysee Arts Gallery, Liege, Belgium (2009). Huda’s work is part of major collections including Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan; Museum of Modern Art, the Hague, Netherlands; The American University in Cairo; Egypt and The British Museum, London.
Huda lives and works in Cairo, Egypt.
About The Third Line
The Third Line is a Dubai-based art gallery that represents contemporary Middle Eastern artists locally, regionally and internationally. In addition to this, The Third Line publishes books by associated artists and hosts non-profit, alternative programs to increase interest and dialogue in the region.
Represented artists include: Abbas Akhavan, Ala Ebtekar, Amir H. Fallah, Arwa Abouon, Babak Golkar, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Farhad Moshiri, Fouad Elkoury, Golnaz Fathi, Hassan Hajjaj, Hayv Kahraman, Huda Lutfi, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Laleh Khorramian, Lamya Gargash, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Pouran Jinchi, Rana Begum, Sahand Hesamiyan, Sara Naim, Sherin Guirguis, Shirin Aliabadi, Slavs and Tatars, Sophia Al-Maria, Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Youssef Nabil and Zineb Sedira.
Media contact
Saira Ansari, Director of Communications
saira [at] thethirdline.com / press [at] thethirdline.com / T +9714 3411 367