Help Us Make a Difference. Help Us Redefine Art in Egypt.

Art is something that surrounds us all, even if you can’t feel it. From the cover page of your books to every piece of furniture in your room. It surrounds every living thing and affects how you behave and react subconsciously. So how come you’ve heard so many times that being an artist is a dying job with little to no success, especially in places such as Egypt? And how can we redefine how we perceive art in not only Egypt, but worldwide too?

To redefine something, you need to understand what it is first. So, what is art? Art is the use of one’s imagination and skill to create.  It is usually used to reflect beauty, feelings and emotional empowerment. Using this definition, many have been able to define art into 7 categories: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, Literature, Performance and the art that combines all the previous 6, Film.  Redefining art in Egypt as a whole would be impossible if we only consider art as one entity and one form; we may never truly change its perception as each of the 7 forms need their own care and treatment. We’ll need to tackle each form separately in order to even suggest any change.

Firstly we’ll need to understand why art is in low demand in Egypt. Egypt is one of the greatest and most well-known countries across the globe for its unique history, style and culture. So it would be easy to assume such a cultural phenomenon should have art as a top priority, right? Unfortunately, if you ask most people in Egypt, they’ll disagree. Art in Egypt is starting to become a dying form of expression and this is likely due to its history. Egypt has been through plenty of economic crises and plenty of wars, whether internal or external, which have all slowed down its potential and growth, so it’s only natural for a group of people trying to survive and regrow to greatness to simply overlook art as unnecessary and a luxury which they don’t have the money for. This all decreases the demand of work in the art industry, which in turn makes most families and parents discourage their young from pursuing  art as a career, which is then passed down generations. Arts are now being treated as a business,  solely for profit which defeats the point.

We’ll take film as an example as it’s the art that combines all of the subcategories and it’s the most affected. Films in Egypt aren’t what they used to be: if you search the best 100 movies in Egypt, on average they were produced during the 1900s. What happened during that time and after? During that time, Egypt was a more stable country with simpler tastes - as was the rest of the world. The advanced technology to develop eye-catching media and create  impressive and more entertaining movies wasn’t commonplace. People back then were free to make movies they wanted with deeper meanings due to the stability of the economy unlike now where movies became an expensive business, so now producers have to make soulless movies they know people would watch mindlessly. But now, it became a business, all tailored towards the mass market with no real messages or purpose. They’re just there to farm money from viewers. The recent quality of movies in Egypt has been decreasing rapidly and the audience don’t seem to care as all they want now is big actor names, cheesy punchlines and one liners. Moreover, all of the recent movies have been horrible comedies and big action movies. 

To fix this, we need to show everyone that art is not something anyone can do badly, get it over with and make a profit. We need to demonstrate that you can be sophisticated and bold with your works and still appeal to the market. We need to increase demand for artistic jobs and stop placing unimaginative and uncreative people in these positions. We need talent, creativity and emotions in order for us all to live and thrive in a community. So if Egypt can’t find the budget, time or the right people, our society will become a bland, tasteless nightmare.

Written by: Raouf Medhat

Edited by: Suereya