Biography

Huda Lutfi

Egypt

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Painting

Gallery image

Born in 1948, Cairo, Egypt
Lives and works in Cairo

Huda Lutfi is known for her multimedia works that deploy female archetypes to comment on history, culture and society, as well as contemporary events in the Arab world. A trained cultural historian as well as a visual artist, Lutfi’s work is distinctively multilayered, both aesthetically and metaphorically. Combining a multitude of styles and techniques to create a finished piece, she draws upon her academic background to mix symbols, images and events from Pharaonic, Coptic, Arab, Mediterranean, Indian and African cultures, often intermingled with text.

The female archetype is revisited in Behind the Silver Window, where a narrow silver windowpane is placed against a painting that depicts iconic tarab performer, Umm Kulthum. The national icon from the Egyptian Golden era, is depicted as the equally iconic Statue of Liberty, which was originally supposed to be built at Port Said and depicts an Egyptian peasant woman. Arabic texts—lyrics from the Umm Kulthum song Atalal and a Sufi text by Al-Nihari—are embedded throughout the piece. Spread in different quadrants of this piece, multiple Umm Kulthums are punctuated by a series of disjointed arms, reaching out, as if trying to escape. Lutfi has exhibited internationally and holds a PhD from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in Arab Muslim Cultural History. (text by Isabella Ellaheh Hughes)

Education:

1983 PhD in Arab Muslim Cultural History, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Selected Solo Exhibition:

2011. Huda Lutfi. twenty Years of  Art. Tache Art Cairo. Egypt
2010. Making a Man out of Him. Townhouse Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2008. Zan´it al-Sitta. The Third Line. Dubai. UAE
2006. From Egypt with Lome. Third Line. Dubai. UAE
2006. ´Arayis. Townhouse Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2005. Beyond the Surfaces of Things. Falaki Gallery, the American University in Cairo. Egypt
2005. Retrospective of Recent Works. al-Riwaq Gallery of Contemporary Art. Bahrain
2004. Making Faces. La Bodega Karim Francis Gallery. Zamalek. Egypt
2004. Femmes Plurielles. The French Cultural Center in Alxandria. Egypt
2004. Calligraphic Abstractions. La Bodega-Karim Francis Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2003. Found in Cairo. Townhouse Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2002. Dawn Portraits. Fortis Circustheater Gallery. The Hague. Holland
2002. Retrospective. La Bodega-Karim Francis Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2001. Paintings by a Contemporary Egyptian Artist. The Muscarelle Museum of Art. Virginia. USA
2000. The New in the Old. Townhouse Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
1997. Huda Lutfi: Recent Works. Xenios Gallery. Frankfurt. Germany
1997. Conjuring the Past. Mashrabia Gallery.Cairo. gypt
1996. Magic and the Image. Terr Viva Gallery. Uzes. France

Selected Group Exhibition:

2012. Frieze. International Art Fair. New York
2010. My World Images. Festival For Contemporary Art. Copenhagen. Denmark
2009. Icons Reloaded. Elysee Arts Gallery. Liege. Belgium
2008. Umm Kulthum. The Fourth Pyramis. The Arab World Institute. Paris. Franc
2008. Trilogy. The Palace of the Arts. Marseille. France
2007. Contemporary Egyptian Art. The Museum of Modrn Art. Bonn. Germany
2007. Contact Zone. The National Museum of Art. Bamako. Mali
2007. What is Happening Now? The Palace of the Arts. Cairo. Egypt
2007. Occidentalism. Karim Francis Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2007. Out of Place. Sfeir-Semler Gallery. Beirut. Lebanon
2005. Recent Works by Egyptian rtists. Mashrabia Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2005. Imagining the Book. Library of Alexandria Biennial. Egypt
2004. Ramadan Lights. Goethe Cultural Institute and Mashrabia Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
2004. Hybridity. Cairo University. Cairo. Egypt
2003. Body, New Falaky Gllery. The American University in Cairo. Egypt
2002. Imagining the Book. Library of Alexandria. Alexandria. Egypt
2002. Collge. Atelier du Caire. Cairo. Egypt
2001. Cairo Modern Art in Holland. Fortis Circustheater Gallery. The Hague. Holland
1999. Mixed Media Works. Townhouse Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
1998. Four Women Artists. Townhouse Gallery. Cairo. Egypt
1998. Women Artists of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Salonika. Greece
1997. Biennal for Women Artists of the Mediterranean. Marseille and Arles. France

Awards:

2010. Artist Residency. Kunsthalle Nikolaj. Copenhagen
2009. Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Artist Grant
1999. Ford Foundation Artist Grant
1996. Second prize at the Biennial for Women Artists of the Mediterranean in Marseille. France

Selected Bibliography:

2011. Lutfi, Huda “The Last Word,” Canvas, March-April.
2011. Badrawi, Cherine & Elzayadi, Taya, “Putting Egyptian Contemporary Art on the Global Map
2011. One Step at a Time,” The Daily News, Egypt, January, Online www.thedailynewsegypt.com
2009. Attalah, Lina, “Breaking News,” Contemporary Practices, March.
2009. Iverson, Jeffrey T., “Golden Gates: Middle Eastern Art,” Time Magazine, October, Online www.time.com
2009. El-Wakil, Mai, “From Scrapheap to Avant Garde,” Al-Masry Al-Youm Online, 6 December.
2008. Katchka, Kinsey, “The Art of Urban Introspection,” ISIM Review, Autumn.
2008. Tully, Gemma, “Re-Imagining the Tomb: A Dialogue between Ancient And Modern Egyptian Art,” Contemporary Practices, December.
2008. Collaborative Authorship, “The Practice of Huda Lutfi: Umm Kulthum, Icon of Resistance and of a Nation,” Contemporary Practices, December.
2008. Lake, Ed, “Diva Inspiration,” The National, November.
2008. Plunkett, Jane, “Progression in a Bottle,” 7 DAYS, November 18.
2007. Samia Mehrez, “Found in Cairo: Between Representation and Literalism in the Visual Field,”Egypt’s Culture Wars, Routelage, New York.
2007. Kinsey Katchka, “A Sufi Matrix: Between Dakkar and Cairo,” Sufi Arts, Rituals and Performance in Africa Conference, University of Kansas, February 22-25th.
2006. Marianne Brouwer, “Silence is Silver: Contemporary Cairo,” Metropolism, October/November.
2006. “From Egypt With Love,” Canvas Guide, November-December.
2006. Kendall, Hynam, “From Egypt With Love,” Inside Out, December.
2005. Lilian Karnouk, Modern Egyptian Art 1910-2003, New Edition, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo.
2005. Seth Thompson, “Cairo's Avant Garde,” The Journal for Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, vol. 36, no 2.
2004. Wejdan Al-Mannai, “Arab Women Artists,” Jamini Magazine.
2003. Negar Azimi, Found in Cairo Catalogue.
2002. Cairo Modern Art in Holland, Fortis Circustheater Foundation, The Hague.
2002. Francesca Sullivan, “A Canvas Stripped of Clothing: The Human Face in  Multicultural Iconography,” Egypt’s Insight Magazine, January. 
2001. Richard Woffenden, “Time and Space,” Cairo Times, April.
2001. S. Mehrez & J. Stone, “Meditations on Painting and History: an Interview with Huda Lutfi,” in S. Zuhur, ed. Colors of Enchantment: Theatre, Dance, Music and the Visual Arts of the Middle East, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo/New York.
2001. Huda Lutfi, “Art Essay,” Feminist Studies, 27, Spring.
2001. James Stone, “Huda Lutfi; In her Own Words,” Arts and the Islamic World, (Special Report on Egypt: The Arts in View), 35.
2001. Linnea Dietrich, “Huda Lutfi: A contemporary Artist in Egypt,” Woman’s Art Journal, 21(2), Fall/Winter.
1999. S. Mehrez & J. Stone, “Huda Lutfi: Woman, History and Memory,” Alif, Journal of Comparative Poetics, 19.

Selected Acquisitions:

Dubai Properties, Dubai, UAE
Fortis Circustheater Foundation, The Hague, Holland
Indianapolis Museum, Indianapolis, USA
Jean-Jacques et Michele de Fleurs, Paris, France
Museum of Modern Art, The Hague, Holland
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Amman, Jordan
Muscarelle Museum, University of Virginia, USA
The American University in Cairo, Egypt
The British Museum, London
The Law Court of Bahrain
The World Bank, Egypt