MOHAMED ABLA
An Ode to Beauty and Simplicity
Mohamed Abla
Stories scatter across Abla’s work
simplest forms—familiar yet strange. For him, art is primarily a story, a human experience, an open journey teeming with vitality that spans the edges of the past and present. He looks into its mirror to glimpse what the future may bring. Through storytelling, his deep affection for the Egyptian environment and its rich popular heritage becomes evident, as does his pride in his rural origins and village upbringing. This passion also shines in his love for the Nile, which has featured prominently in several of his important exhibitions, such as *The Nile* (Goethe Institute, 1998) and *Companionship with the Nile and Trees* (Zamalek Art Gallery, 2002). He even bought land on the Nile island of Qursaya, building a home and studio there to be close to the river and feel, quite literally, the shimmering movement of its water, dancing lightly both on its surface and in his paintings.
The Nile, for Abla, is far more than a visual medium or a beautiful lifeline; in his art, it becomes a bridge alive with the stories, dreams, and longings of people—longings for justice, freedom, and a sense of safety. It becomes a water myth, shaped by human labor, perseverance, and the will to hope and illuminate.
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Capturing this sudden
moment of inspiration is not without struggle, especially in a world where the gap between humans and their dreams, and even between themselves, keeps widening. Yet Abla meets this reality with the loving heart of a child. Guided by the compass of art, he pierces through its gloom and harsh rules, making art a balance point between freedom and oppression, darkness and light.
This spirit animates Abla’s entire journey—its sources, paths, and transformations. In his captivating book *Egypt… Oh Abla: The Formative Years*, he recounts how it all began: as a mischievous child, obsessively doodling on his village’s primary school wall. Far from being deterred by the principal’s punishment, his passion was rewarded with his first artistic gift—*a box of colored chalk*—ironically presented by the same principal, after a visiting art inspector praised him and said, “Take care of him… he’s an artist.”
