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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Artist Spotlight with Mehri Khalil

Posted: Jul 2, 2020

ArteEast is pleased to present an interview with artist Mehri Khalil as part of our Artist Spotlight.

Mehri Khalil is an Egyptian artist and arts administrator. She has had three solo exhibitions in Cairo and has participated in several group exhibitions. She is also a PhD candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where she explores transcultural influences on art, and more particularly, Egyptian artists in Paris, which complements her own practice and research interests.

Khalil has previously worked in museums, schools and consultancies. She holds a master’s degree in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (’12) and a bachelor’s degree from the American University in Cairo (’09).

ArteEast: What has your practice/career focused on during the past five years? 

Mehri Khalil: The past five years have really been pivotal for me. I decided to dedicate all of my time to my practice in 2013, and I was ready for my first solo exhibition in 2016. I’ve always been attracted to geometry and straight lines, I am constantly analyzing shapes and forms. How we can decompose an object and put it back together, how we can build something from scratch, how our perception of a thing can change drastically with a stroke of a brush. In the last couple of years, I felt my work was finally my own, I learned to trust myself a lot more and to believe in my vision, despite the mainstream. My inspiration comes from the Egyptian street, I am stimulated by its street vendors, kiosks, stalls, the cityscape and everything in between. Lately, I’ve had a penchant for more abstract forms, and more importantly, abstract ideas, which I’m currently delving into.

AE: How do you navigate your artistic practice in relation to your research and more academic work?

MK: I chose a topic that enriches me as a person and as an artist, and learning about artists’ lives in depth definitely inspires my practice. I am looking into transcultural influences in the works of Egyptian artists who spent time in Paris between the 50s and the 80s. Because of my education, I knew much more about Western art than I did about Egyptian art. When I decided to dedicate my time to art, I was not just painting but also reading about my country’s artistic heritage. In 2016, I decided it was time to take all of these readings to the next level because of my fondness for research, and the many questions I wanted to find answers to. I want to be able to tell the complete and accurate story of several of these artists, and understand them on an individual level. The topic also helps me think about and examine the transcultural influences on my own life as well.

Of course, practically speaking, I spend much more time painting than I do writing. My academic supervisor is starting to put pressure on me, so hopefully his strategy will work and I will be done with my dissertation sooner rather than later!

AE: How, if at all, have you been making use of this time of self-isolation? Have there been any creative gains or challenges? 

MK: Being an artist, you spend a lot of time in isolation, with or without a pandemic. I am used to being on my own and working from my home, which is also my studio. I also gave birth last September, so I’m finding myself with a new set of challenges. I wasn’t able to be part of the art scene during these last few months, but the pandemic has actually been really beneficial in the sense that a lot of things have shifted online and I am therefore able to be part of them. I think that we all appreciate the advantages of being able to attend conferences, listen to presentations, visit virtual exhibitions, read more about artists from across the world, all from the comfort of our homes. Of course, I do miss interacting with people and art, I don’t think that anything could replace these face-to-face interactions.

As for my practice, I have been working on a few commissions, which I rarely accept, but they came at the right moment and provided the motivation I needed after giving birth and being in isolation due to the pandemic. I’m also enjoying working on smaller works. I’m getting a lot of reward from drawing and sketching; I like the spontaneity and the introspection that goes along with it.

AE: What continues to challenge you intellectually about the practice of creating art? Has quarantine and/or the engagements of the art world slowing down slowed you down?

MK: I believe that the pause the world is experiencing has been a great moment of self-reflection for a lot of people including myself. We all needed to stop for a while, and re-evaluate what we’ve been doing and how we want to proceed. I’ve had three exhibitions in four years, which was great but also overwhelming, so I am truly enjoying this break.

Although not physical, I feel that the surge in online presence has actually reinforced the public’s engagement with the arts as we find ourselves involved in many activities that were previously overlooked or that weren’t available altogether. This inspires me in my own practice and opens new horizons, and it has actually given me more time to focus on my work. I’ve had a few interesting projects I’ve been working on so I haven’t slowed down, quite the contrary.

My main challenge remains how to blend Egyptian heritage, whether ancient, Coptic or Islamic without falling into stereotypes. That’s why I feel it’s extremely important to know where we’re coming from, and have a vision for where we’re going.

AE: What have you given thought to doing or creating once the global pandemic subsides?

MK: I want to take the next year to experiment, explore working on paper a lot more, maybe go back to intaglio printing, and also finish my dissertation (which I guess is also a work on paper!) I just want to work calmly, in harmony, and prolong this hiatus for a little while longer!

MEHRI KHALIL ONLINE:

Instagram: @mehrikhalil

Facebook: @mehrikhalilart

Website: www.mehrikhalil.com

 

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