White Gold

This work is part of a collective exhibition The Open Veins curated by Vítor Nieves.

White Gold

White gold is an ongoing search for my personal and national identity. A cycle of loss and possibilities. Questioning what makes us who we are. A journey of becoming and a collective struggle to exist, to record and internalise our memories to keep our history alive. Helping us shape how we view ourselves and our national history. My story visually aims to open up discourses around origin, memory, abandoned history, land use and preservation, personal trauma, the battles we fight within us as we try to place ourselves in a constantly ever-changing world. In an attempt to question the post-colonial legacy of Egyptian cotton or White Gold, this is a tale of the fading cotton as a living embodiment of Egypt. It depicts the multitude of layers the Egyptian identity holds. The story of cotton is a story of a human seed, a reflection of Egypt and myself. I try, through this work, to reconnect and recollect what is left of our withering seeds of cotton. Exploring what used to be one the most important industries embedded in our collective fabrics. Beneath these layers, unfolds the lineage of Egypt, from past to present. What could have been, what have we lost and what could still be?

The first seeds of my identity were planted in El Mehalla Al Kobra, home to me and Egyptian cotton. Known as the citadel of industry, it was one of the most popular cities in Egypt for the harvesting and spinning of white cotton. My great grandfather was a merchant of silk and wool, one of the first in El Mehalla to lead the initial stage of the popular manufacturing textile trade at the time. My cotton threads extend back to three generations. In 1969, he established his textile factory and my father joined him in the 1980’s. Now as I try to weave the fabric of my personal identity, I observe my historical and current family ties, there is one element that provides me with a sense of belonging, that I am of others. Uprooted and extracted from its ground, I saw myself reflected in the cotton journey, both of us, plant and human, lost, fragmented trying to weave our common threads. Enduring change internally and externally trying to adapt to the outside world. Holding on to my ageing roots amid the changing socio-political, urban and economic landscape in Egypt, I am drawing on the legacies of my grandparents, their archives, and found objects to depict the beauty, the struggle and resilience of my people, myself and my identity.

SOMA — Plataforma Cultural
Rua Capitão Alberto de Matos 4, 4700-211 Braga

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