Born in 1984 in Egypt, Marwa Adel is a photographer and installation artist who works with text and photography in many of her projects. Adel holds a BA and MFA in Applied Arts from Helwan University, and teaches interdisciplinary approaches at October 6 University.
She explores the taboo of the nude model in her works, where male and female forms are digitally manipulated to hide the essential without affecting the whole. Her use of text accentuates and confirms the visual message. In doing so, she makes use of digital and standard photography, calligraphy and photo-manipulation software. The extensive use of female models -in most cases acquaintances and friends, relatives or herself -is a self-exploratory statement about the situation of the female in certain social dynamics; the exquisite quality of the image and the content is pleasurable, and is a quest for human desire and freedom.
Her style is very personal and intimate, though technically reminiscent of the works of her peers and fellow artists Nermine
Hammam, HazemTahaHussein and Sabah Naim, among others, where the artists use a formula of text, manipulated photography, fabric and digital printing to create an alternative reality. Adel maintains a very personal voice as her work is unique in tackling the taboo of the human
figure, its sensual nudity as a form of expression and its nakedness in revolt of social restrictions. Her texts, taken from her own diary, confirm her visual message.
« Momentum »: Marwa has captured the spirit of the Egyptian youth’s rebellion in stunning fashion, with a strong emphasis on the constant and frantic movement of the country during this critical period, through a seamless combination of graphic design and photography.