Ezz Monem

PROJECT
In this installation Ezz Monem explores the tension between reverence and the profane by recontextualising references to the name ‘Mohamed’ from Egyptian and broader Middle Eastern cinema. It is part of a larger project in which Monem uses his first name ‘Mohamed’ as a starting point for extensive research. Through a meticulous process of copying, erasing and repetition, he creates a manifold portrait of the name. The accompanying sound work by Matthew Davis is composed of micro-samples extracted from the same films Monem has edited from.

ABOUT
Ezz Monem (born Mohamed Ezzeldin M. Abdelmonem) is a photo-based artist from Egypt who lives and works in Melbourne. He uses photography to explore the pluralism of reality, playing with sensations of ambivalence and conflict, and giving visual form to the multiplicity of identity in places, people and objects. Monem graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, and worked as a software engineer, but his explorations in visual arts began years earlier. His work has been shown in exhibitions in Egypt, Australia and various other countries in Europe and the Middle East, where he has received numerous awards. Monem recently completed a Master of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.

Courtesy of the artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne