Adam Hanin Competition for sculpture was launched on Friday

CAIRO - 16 September 2017: The second Adam Hanin competition for sculpture was launched on Friday, September 15 in Adam Hanin museum under the auspices of El Youm 7 organisation.

“The reason behind launching this competition is to encourage young people and develop their creative skills; the award will continue in the coming years to stimulate and support young people,” recounted Hanin.

The great sculptor said that Egypt had suffered from the lack of distinguished sculptors 30 years ago, therefore he thought of establishing the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium to include Egyptian, Arab and foreign sculptors. After the symposium, many Egyptian sculptors became famous worldwide.

The launching ceremony of the competition witnessed the attendance of a group of prominent contemporary artists like Ahmed Shiha, Essam Darwish, Ekram Magdob, Abdel Aziz Saab among others.

Hanin worked from 1989 to 1998 with the Ministry of Culture in the restoration of the Sphinx in Giza. In 1996, he founded the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium, which is an annual workshop and exhibition that invites sculptors from around the world. Hanin is one of the most prominent contemporary sculptors in the Arab world. During his career, he made a large number of large and small pieces, using various materials such as granite, bronze, plaster, limestone and pottery. His first works embodied the agility and durability of ancient Egyptian statues.

Hanin was born in Cairo in 1929 to a family that has origins in Assiut governorate and work in making jewellery. He grew up in the Bab al-Sha'ariya neighbourhood. At the age of 20, he decided to become a sculptor and went to the School of Fine Arts in Cairo to graduate from it in 1953.

He studied Fine Arts in Luxor from 1954 to 1955. He then studied sculpture in West Germany in 1957. He worked as a painter in Sabah al-Kheir magazine in 1961, and then as a technical consultant at El Tahrir Publishing House in 1971.

Hanin’s work is characterised by the emphasis on the local environment, the ancient Egyptian heritage and his ability to express social reality. His curators are in the Ministry of Education Museum, the Ministry of Culture museum and the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo.