“Huda Lutfi works like an urban archeologist, constantly digging up found objects and images as loaded fragments of history. She then re-packages them using bricolage and collage as interceptive strategies. Thus recognizable objects, images and icons are hijacked, re-contextualized and made to tell a different story. Playing on collective memory and a shared iconography, Lutfi somehow blurs cultural timelines and boundaries………”
Personal Data
Artist lives and works in Cairo, Egypt.
Education
1983 PhD in Arab/Islamic Cultural History, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Awards
2010 Artist Residency, Kunsthalle Nikolaj, Copenhagen
1999–2000 Ford Foundation Artist Grant, Cairo, Egypt
1997 Second prize at the Biennial for Women Artists of the Mediterranean in Marseille, France
Select Bibliography
2009 Mai el-Wakil, “From Scrap-heap to Avant-garde,” al-Masry al-Youm, 28 November issue.
2008 Kinsey Katchka, “The Art of Urban Introspection,” ISIM Review 22, Autumn issue.
2008 Seth Thompson, “Cairo’s Avant Garde,” Afterimage, vol. 36, no. 2.
2008 Samia Mehrez,, “Found in Cairo: The Limits of Representation in the Visual Field,” in Egypt’s Cultural Wars: Politics and Practice, Routledge, London and New York.
2007 D. Douara, “Occidentalism Mirroring, Challenging Orientalism,” Daily News, Egypt, 18 May.
2005 Lilian Karnouk, Modern Egyptian Art 1910-2003, New Edition, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo.
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. Colours of Enchantment: Theater, Dance, Music and the Visual Arts of the Middle East, The American University in Cairo, 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 Art in View),35.
2001 Linnea Dietrich, “Huda Lutfi: A contemporary Artist in Egypt,” Woman’s Art Journal, 21(2), Fall, 2000/Winter.
1999 S. Mehrez & J. Stone, “Huda Lutfi: Woman, History and Memory,” Alif,Journal of Comparative Poetics, 19.
Acquisitions
- The British Museum
- Jean-Jacques de Flers
- Indianapolis Museum, Indianapolis, USA
- Muscarelle Museum, University of Virginia, USA
- Fortis Circustheater Foundation, The Hague
- The World Bank, Egypt
- Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan
- The Law Court of Bahrain
- The American Uiversity in Cairo
Auctions
2010 Basel Miami - Miami
2010 Southeby’s - London
2010 Ayyam Gallery - Dubai
2010 Artcurial - Paris
2009 Christi’s – Dubai
Select Solo Exhibitions
2010 Making a Man Out of Him, The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo
2009 Portraits Revisited, Gallery Frederick Moisson, Paris
2008 Zan’it al-Sittat, The Third Line, Dubai, U.A.E
2006 From Egypt with Love, The Third Line, Dubai, U.A.E.
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 for Contemporary Art, Bahrain
2004 Making Faces, La Bodega Karim Francis Gallery, Zamalek, Egypt
2004 Femmes Plurielles, The French Cultural Center in Alexandria, Egypt
2004 Movements of the Alif, La Bodega-Karim Francis Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2003 Found in Cairo, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2002 Dawn Portraits, Fortis Circus Theater 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
1998 Recent Paintings, Xenios Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
2000 The New in the Old, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
1998 Conjuring the Past, Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
1997 Magic and the Image, Terra Viva Gallery, Uzes, France
1997 Woman and Memory, Ewart Gallery, The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Select Group Expositions
2010 My World Images Festival, Copenhagen
2010 Dakar Biennale, Dakar
2010 Why Not? Palace of the Arts, Cairo
2009 Golden Gates: Contemporary Art from the Middle East, F & A Projects, Paris
2009 Icons Reloaded, Elysee Art Gallery, Liege, Belgium
2008 Breaking News: Contemporary Art from the Middle East, F & A Projects, Paris
2008 Umm Kulthum: The Fourth Pyramid, The Arab World Institute, Paris
2008 Trilogy, Palace of the Arts, Marseille.
2007 Contact Zone, The National Museum of Mali, Bamako
2007 What is Happening Now? Palace of the Arts, Cairo
2007 Contemporary Art from Egypt, The Museum of Modern Art, Bonn
2007 Al-‘Arusa, Ahmad Shawqi Museum, Cairo, Egypt
2007 Arabic Calligraphy in Contemporary Egyptian Art, The Egyptian Cultural Centre, Vienna
2006 Body, New Falaky Gallery, The American University in Cairo, Egypt
2005 Recent Works by Egyptian Artists, 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
2002 Imagining the Book, Library of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt
2002 Collage, Atelier du Caire, Cairo, Egypt
2002 The Palm Tree, Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2001 Cairo Modern Art in Holland, Fortis Circustheater Gallery, The Hague
2000 The T-Shirt, Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
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 Perspectives, Atelier du Caire Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
1997 Biennial for Women Artists of the Mediterranean, Marseille and Arles, France
