In a small, informal gathering of mostly USF students, the urban artist sat at the front of the comfortable lecture room with slides of her work projected behind her during her free artist talk last Friday. Aya Tarek, internationally acclaimed Egyptian graffiti artist and muralist, is an artist-in-residence as part of “THIS Bridge: Arab, Middle Eastern & Muslim Artists” series, sponsored by the USF Contemporary Art Museum and Art2Action Inc., a grant program that works to bring middle eastern artists (mostly women) to the campus over a two-year period. During Tarek’s residency, she will be working closely with students and volunteers to complete a large-scale wall mural outside USFCAM.
Born in 1989 in Egypt, Tarek was first inspired to pursue art watching her grandfather work in his studio. She laughed as she told us how, for some reason, the schools allowed her to draw on their walls when she was growing up. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alexandria University, but it wasn’t an easy process for her: “You don’t have the privilege of anyone helping you. That’s how it works in Egypt.” Noticing the political and corrupt state control and censorship in the artwork shown, Tarek made the move to urban art since, “The street is for everyone.”
Because "the institutions" she talks about only hire artists that they have connections with, not outsiders like the second generation of artists, the soft-spoken Tarek worked as a graphic designer to support her paint habit while working hard to make gallery connections. She and her friends made their own tools and, as she put it, “We did whatever we wanted.” She says you have to be creative to work it out (being an artist), and notices that urban artists are especially good at creative problem solving.
Many of her works are politically charged, like her poster for CityLeaks Urban Art Festival in Cologne of a man holding a large rifle low across his body, like a banjo, cheekily called “Country Music.” In an action-movie poster style, she also produced the mural “The Good, The Bad, and The Politician,” which serves as the cover image for the 2011 documentary film of the same name.
Tarek currently lives in Cairo, and has been transitioning her paintings from wall to canvas. Considering herself an experimental artist, she hops from style to style without a care so that she’s not confined to a particular technique or theme, allowing for more creative freedom. The acrylic painting “Made in China” is her most recent piece that she shared with the group: a solemn portrait of a man (or to Tarek, perhaps it is a woman?) against a stark red background that creeps into yellow. The ambiguity in her imagery leaves the work open to endless interpretation.
Traveling extensively in the past, her visit to Tampa marks her first visit to the United States. She is enjoying her time here, though she notes, “It’s much hotter than Europe!” I really can’t blame those sentiments, especially since she will be working and painting outside in the muggy weather on her mural project.
Being back in an institution, Aya Tarek confesses that she feels like a student here at USF, expressing that she didn’t get a proper education in Alexandria: “I still look at myself as a student, but I don’t want that to ever change.” As a young artist herself talking to mostly other young adults, she gives a bit of advice to the USF students saying, “You’re in a great facility and know that not everyone has access to this, so make the best of it.”
The world premiere of Aya Tarek's new mural at USF will take place 7-9 p.m., Thurs., Oct. 1. The celebration features Middle Eastern food and music from Tampa DJs at the Contemporary Art Museum. Free admission. ira.usf.edu.
