Returnee Blues #1

Mixed Media: Ink, pastel, glue, papyrus, 80 gsm white paper, and 300 gsm Canson fine grain colorline paper. 50 x 65 cm (19.6" x 25.6")

Following in the footsteps of IMMIGRANT BLUES (a series of self-portraits produced by the artist during his long stretch abroad), RETURNEE BLUES #1 is the first in a series of self-portraits that see the artist contend with his return to his hometown of Cairo, Egypt. In the case of this particular piece, the artist seems to be in distress over his countrymen's relationship with time.

The nature of this relationship with time is underpinned by the sheet of papyrus depicting an assortment of clocks in grid formation, the sheet torn, shredded, and evidently disintegrating.

Hovering above the artist’s head, a bilingual thought balloon reads: “يا ربي ("Oh god"), when will my countrymen ever know قيمة الوقت” (“…the value of time”). The code-switching--moving seamlessly between English and Arabic--provides a clue to one of the sources of both the artist's struggle: culturally split, linguistically hybrid, and unable to fully inhabit either side without dragging the other along with it.

Faintly behind and under the thought balloon, the remnants of an old Arabic proverb can be made out along the torn edge of the papyrus: “الوقت كالسيف، إن لم تقطعه…” (“Time is like a sword; if you do not cut with it, it will cut you”), highlighting that the notion that valuing time isn't historically foreign to the culture, or perhaps at the very least shouldn't be.