Fathi Hassan

Born in Cairo in 1957 from a family of Nubian origin, Fathi Hassan has exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world. Fathi was the first African artist to be selected for the Venice Biennale in 1988, and his work is in the permanent collections of distinguished institutions across the world, among them the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Museum and The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC.

Faces&Voices presented a selection from his most recent work on paper, a medium that links his work to the papyrus writings exhibited. From calligraphy to human faces, animals, houses and landscapes from his native land, the themes of Fathi Hassan’s work are a reflection on Egyptian identity in a time of radical, traumatic changes for the nation.

Ten specially commissioned pieces known as the ‘Fayum containers’ will be added to the exhibition in October, when the mummy portraits return to a dedicated room in the new Ancient Worlds galleries of the Manchester Museum.