Souad Abdelrassoul: Me You And The Journey
Appearing outside the Hayward Gallery, Me You And The Journey is a painting of two figures, partially shrouded in cloth, by the artist Souad Abdelrassoul.
Souad Abdelrassoul grew up near the River Nile in Egypt and now rivers of all kinds flow through her acrylic paintings. She often uses depictions of the natural world to reflect on her experience as a woman who is constrained by the conservative society she lives in.
‘I feel compassion for felled trees,’ Abdelrassoul says. ‘They look like me. There is something that connects us – it could be the feeling of erosion or pain.’
In Me You And The Journey, the two figures are partially shrouded by a translucent cloth that references the very fine linen worn by Ancient Egyptian women.
In the painting, the cloth blends with water, sky and skin, further dissolving the artificial boundaries between people and our environment.
Courtesy of the artist and Circle Art Gallery, Kenya