Mashrabia Gallery hosts ‘Qarboush: Echoes of Naguib Mahfouz’

CAIRO – 23 May 2018: Mashrabia Gallery is hosting the exhibition “Qarboush: Echoes of Naguib Mahfouz” by artist Qarm Qart from May 20 to June 14.

The artist interprets Mahfouz’s “Cairo Trilogy” novels into the form of tarboushes, using the books “Palace Walk” (Bayn al-Qasrain), “Palace of Desire” (Qasr al-Shawq) and “Sugar Street” (Al-Sukkariyya).

Through his exhibition, the artist tries to bridge between past and present by focusing on the tarboush, a brimless hat worn in Egypt until the early 20th century.

Carmine Cartolano, known as Qarm Qart, is an Italian artist, author and teacher based in Egypt since 1999. In the beginning, he worked as an Italian teacher at the Italian Cultural Institute and also gave classes at the Don Bosco Institute.

He first showed his talent in art when he offered to help his Italian friend and present two of his photographs for his exhibition at Mashrabia Gallery. As he grabbed his friend’s attention during the first exhibition, they worked together for a second exhibition, “2Kitching”. His first solo exhibition was in 2011, entitled “If”.