Icons of the Nile 1

The main themes of his monotypes are the bygone eras of romance and glamour, musicals and melodramas, revolutions and ideal, beloved childhood heroes- stars, divas, and leaders, the famous and anonymous people of the Egyptian socialist propaganda machine, and urban and rural daily scenes. These depict an era, the Egypt of the 1950s, when the country was at the height of its cosmopolitanism and Middle Eastern intellectuals mingled. The era also represents the height of Egyptian popular culture: when Egyptian cinema- 'Hollywood on the Nile'- dominated most of the Arab world. Booming publishing houses made Cairo a meeting place to discuss anti-colonial ideas.

Rose Issa, Chant Avedissian: Cairo Stencils, London, 2006, p.8.