MANY RIVERS TO CROSS
MAGED MEKHAIL
12 OCTOBER - 15 NOVEMBER 2015

Many Rivers To Cross is, in part, a tribute to our ancient collective past that forms who we are today. Ever since he carved his own place in contemporary Egyptian art, thirty-three year old Maged Mekhail has sought to say something, many 
things indeed, hoping that, whether we cross or not, our pride will keep us alive. Maged Mekhail transports us back in time and space from Ancient Egypt to Babylon, and from Mesopotamia to further East. Rulers, traders, warriors, men of sciences and prophets crossed roads, ports and oceans seeking larger empires, flourishing trade and the spread of religion. Thousands of years later, their great grand-children are crossing the roads again – this time heading West, seeking refuge and escaping civil wars and violence. Crossing is no longer the means to enlarge one’s home, but rather the prevalent means of survival – to escape from home. In Many Rivers to Cross, painter and sculptor Maged Mekhail choses to ignore the slow decline of our present and brings to light our past by exploring the traces left behind the convergence of national, racial and ethical lines that supposedly should bond us together. He embraces the endless possibilities of remembrance and provides a multi-dimensional representation of the Egyptian world. The many different chapters across a span of thousands of years appear as fragments absorbed into Mikhail’s works, calling on a transcendent power to provide some meaning to guide our fragile present. Instead of falling into nostalgia, remembrance turns into solace and Many Rivers to Cross playfully explores nonrandom moments, rituals and personae where there is no political perspective but rather snapshots that cement our cultural chains and transform our feelings of belonging to pride.