Refusing to fit into the mainstream art movement of her day, Gazbia Sirry replaced formal modernist rules with Egyptian-specific artistic conventions to critically address women's rights, patriarchy, social justice and justice. Western imperialism. A true emblematic figure during the seventy years of Arab history, Sirry creates paintings resembling mosaics of social realism that still elicit multiples of culturally marked interpretations. Despite his famous use of color, his art form continues to serve as an urgent and contemporary political act.
The canon of Egyptian art history has always defended women. Unlike their Western contemporaries, Egyptian women artists have been both present and on an equal footing with their male counterparts since the first Cairo Salon was held in 1921. Thus, a strong local activity of autonomous women painters emerged in course of the last century. Exposed to the outside world, they defied convention, launched artistic movements, fought for women's rights and, in doing so, spoke for a nation. Gazbia Sirry (born in 1925) is one of these revolutionary women.
Excerpt from the article “Gazbia Sirry—When Modern Arab Form Meets Politics, Fatenn Mostafa-Kanafani, June 30, 2021”