EGYPT
ARTIST RESIDENCY
CARAVAN's artist residency initiative for Indigenous contemporary artists hosted in Egypt is held in partnership with the Abla Art Foundation. The several-week residency takes place at the Fayoum Art Center in the desert oasis village of Tunis-Fayoum, by Lake Qarun, near where the world-famous Fayoum art portraits were discovered. The Fayoum Art Center is an international hub for artistic exchange, residencies, workshops, and collaboration. The artist residency culminates with an exhibition at a noted art gallery in downtown Cairo.
2027 EGYPT INDIGENOUS ARTIST RESIDENCY:
LIVING RESILIENCE: Exploring the Human Journey
Four artists. Two cultural worlds. One shared human story.
An artistic exploration that brings together four visionary artists from the Great Plains of the American West and Egypt in the Middle East to build new bridges of understanding through shared human experience.
LIVING RESILIENCE: Exploring the Human Journey is an unprecedented bridge-building artistic initiative bringing together four noted contemporary Native American (2) and Egyptian (2) artists.
As the first artist residency for Native American artists held in the Middle East, this groundbreaking bridge-building initiative will celebrate universal human endurance and demonstrate that resilience is a shared global truth. During an immersive residency, the four artists will live, create, and exchange ideas, artistically exploring together the enduring human themes of Indigenous wisdom, cultural identity, endurance, and hope.
At a time of growing division and misunderstanding between the US and the Middle East, LIVING RESILIENCE will create a space for connection, understanding, and mutual respect, exploring how art can transcend divisions and unite us through our shared humanity. The artwork created during this initiative will reflect the power of art to transcend differences, foster connection, and reveal our shared humanity.
In addition to fostering new cross-cultural relationships, perspectives, and creativity, LIVING RESILIENCE will also provide the four artists with an international platform to share their creative voices and perspectives. Through their shared exploration of the human experience, the initiative will build new bridges of understanding, deepening the relationship between the two peoples through the arts. The residency will be accompanied by educational and community programs throughout.
CULMINATING EXHIBITION
The residency will culminate in an exhibition at Cairo Gallery, a noted art gallery in Cairo. The exhibition, titled LIVING RESILIENCE, will bring the four artists together from two different cultural worlds, Native American and Egyptian, to explore how their peoples and cultures have demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for resilience - transforming histories and memories of hardship and struggle into vibrant testaments of hope, strength, and courage.
ARTISTS
The 2027 Indigenous Artist Residency in Egypt will bring together Great Plains Native American artists John Isaiah Pepion (Piikani/Blackfeet) and Miah Chalfant (Northern Cheyenne) from the US, and Egyptian artist Mahmoud Hamdi, as well as one other Egyptian artist soon to be announced.
EXHIBITION:
LIVING RESILIENCE: Exploring the Human Journey
Opening on February 14, 2027
Abla Art Foundation
Bridging cultures and generations through art - preserving heritage, fostering dialogue, and shaping the future of creativity.
Abla Art Foundation (AAF) is a nonprofit organization working at the intersection of art, culture, and social development. Founded in 2024 by Mohamed Abla is one of Egypt's most internationally recognized contemporary artists, and officially registered under the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity, AAF builds on more than two decades of artistic, educational, and community-based work rooted in Fayoum through Fayoum Art Center.
AAF operates as a platform where artists, institutions, and communities engage through shared creative experiences, fostering dialogue that bridges social, cultural, and geographic divides.
For more information: https://ablaartfoundation.org/
Partners
The Fayoum Art Center was founded in 2006 by the celebrated Egyptian artist Mohamed Abla. The Center is dedicated to connecting artists nationally, regionally and internationally through the creation of art. Located in the desert oasis village of Tunis-Fayoum, by Lake Qarun, near where the world-famous Fayoum art portraits were discovered, the Fayoum Art Center is an international hub for artistic exchange, residencies, workshops, and collaboration. About a 90-minute drive from Cairo, the Center is home to the first Caricature Museum in the Middle East.
For more information: https://fayoumartcenter.com/
