Shahd El Helbawy sees mysteries to be explored through her most recent artistic pursuit: sculpting. Her passion for art has led her to be the first recipient of the Liu Shiming Endowed Scholarship. Established last year at AUC, the scholarship will support El Helbawy’s journey through AUC’s visual arts program.
“In addition to tuition, this scholarship will enable me to travel and attend exhibitions abroad where other artists can view my work and I can see theirs,” El Helbawy said. “I feel it will be a good network of connections that I could use to support my goals.”
As a visual arts junior minoring in interactive media design, El Helbawy is interested in artistic narratives that link the human consciousness and unconsciousness. “I want my artwork to be interactive, where the viewer can relate to each piece in their own way that may evoke certain memories or emotions, for example,” she explained. “I believe that each person will relate to the artwork and understand it differently than the other.”
El Helbawy’s passion for sculpting gives her a unique connection to the Liu Shiming Art Foundation. Wei Liu, special advisor for the foundation and son of the celebrated Chinese sculptor Liu Shiming, donated his father’s renowned “Silk Road” sculpture to AUC in addition to establishing the scholarship.
“I really liked that most of Shiming’s sculptures have a natural structure to them. With simplistic details, the whole artwork comes together to create a realistic form,” El Helbawy noted. “There is freedom in working with clay and there is always a mystery in not knowing what the outcome will look like.”
El Helbawy is grateful to be part of a program that endorses young artists and encourages cross-cultural artistic dialogue. “Meeting new people from different cultures and seeing their work with different mediums will help me gain fresh perspectives and come up with new concepts that I could integrate into my artwork,” she explained.
In the future El Helbawy aspires to join exhibitions, start her own art studio and set up a space for other artists to learn sculpting and clay modeling. “I first need to work on myself and create more projects that represent my identity to be able to someday establish my own art foundation, just as Liu Shiming did,” she added.
International student Sara Carere has never experienced a month quite like Ramadan in Egypt. Living in wust el balad, or downtown Cairo, Carere has fasted with friends from Assiut, eaten suhoor on the street with her neighbors and watched hours of musalsalat (Ramadan TV series).
“I was most surprised by how special and collective fasting feels,” Carere says. “Back home in the Netherlands I had some Muslim friends who fasted, but seeing Ramadan on a country-wide scale is incredible.”
Carere fasted the first two days of Ramadan to understand what her Muslim friends and neighbors were feeling firsthand. “It was really hard for me,” Carere recalls. “Maybe it's because I haven’t done it before, but not drinking water was so tough. That first iftar was incredible, though; water and dates have never tasted so good.”
As a Middle Eastern studies student from the University of Groningen, Carere has spent her study abroad year at AUC making friends from all over the world. Her iftars have included traditional Egyptian foods and sweets, like molokhia, mahshi, kunafa and atayef, in addition to international foods, like Spanish omelets and pasta bolognese.
“I’ve really enjoyed this month because my roommates and I always have dinner together at iftar. Planning the meals, going grocery shopping and visiting the local market in Sayeda Zaynab to see the lanterns has been a lot of fun,” Carere says. “The fresh fruit juice from the street vendors is so good. My favorite is the coconut drink, sobia.”
Living in downtown Cairo has immersed Carere in the Ramadan spirit. “The first night we walked around downtown until suhoor. Everyone seemed so happy and energetic,” Carere recalls. “We spent the night playing dominoes at an awha (local coffee shop) and drinking tea. It’s been a great chance to practice my Arabic.”
Ramadan has also highlighted some amusing cultural differences between the Netherlands and Egypt, particularly with regard to watching musalsalat. “In the Netherlands, we usually watch a show in silence and discuss it after,” Carere explains. “Watching the shows here with my Egyptian friends involves a lot more commenting and asking questions. I like it; it's more engaging. My favorite shows so far are Al Maddah and Al Soffara.”
At other times, the month feels bittersweet for Carere. “Seeing everyone breaking fast with their families and spending so much time together does make me a little homesick,” Carere says. “Thankfully, my dad is coming to visit next month, and I am so excited to show him how special Egypt is during Ramadan.”
