🎨 Egypt has long been a cradle for the arts — its temples, riverbanks, and desertscapes a muse for many. Throughout the millennia, Om el Donia has witnessed firsthand the creations of those artistically inclined, and the 21st-century scene is no different. From New Cairo to Al Wadi El Gedid and everything in between, Egyptian artists remain in bloom — their brushes, pens, and sculpting tools in hand — to express, reflect, or critique.

Which is to say, there is no shortage of inspiration in Egypt, certainly not for those who travel the world to find it. One artist whose move to Egypt fueled her artistic endeavors, Maria Maher, can certainly confirm that. A Cuban-born artist raised in the US, Maher has spent over 20 years living and creating in Cairo, expressing herself through art that bridges her roots, her education, and her deep-seated Egyptian inspiration.

The road to the canvas

While Maher’s work speaks of a natural-born talent fostered early on, her road to the canvas was, surprisingly, serendipitous. Leaving Cuba at the age of 10, she arrived in the US without a word of English, eventually settling in a small West Texas town. This displacement provided her first sense of creative identity. “I felt special as a Cuban child in the US. I saw it the opposite way that most people would think, but I felt comfortable,” Maher tells EnterpriseAM.

However, Maher didn't touch a canvas until she was 24. Her motive was a somber one: her first husband, a pilot, was diagnosed with a brain tumor and turned to art school when he could no longer fly. “I thought, ‘Well, if he’s going to art school, I will too,’” she tells us. This sparked a lifelong passion that accompanied her through graduate studies and an eventual move to Egypt, prompted by her current husband’s career in the oil business.

“Struggling” with the canvas

In her Cairo studio, Maher’s process is a physical, almost athletic, performance. She shuns small brushes in favor of squeegees and palette knives, working simultaneously on several large-scale canvases that allow total movement. Her method involves squeezing thick tubes of paint directly onto the surface, adding and subtracting — a form of artistic archaeology, as she likes to describe it. The act of art comes first, then the subjects make themselves known somewhere along the way.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m fighting with a big canvas, and I feel like the canvas usually wins.” Maher’s physical approach to art results in a style she calls “symphonic,” merging abstraction with power in the form of elongated figures of women. Her inspirations are as diverse as her background: “I tend to gravitate toward large or tall women; allegorical women, ethereal and universal kind of women, tall and with strength. My other series is landscapes. I used to do many flowers for my first exhibition a long time ago at the Opera House. I’m always in awe of all the flowering trees in Egypt: the bougainvilleas or shrubs that are so intensely colorful,” Maher shares.

The value of art beyond the galleries

Maher’s belief in the power of art extends far beyond the gallery walls. For years, she has been a dedicated advocate of girls' education in rural Egyptian villages. In these communities, art became a vital tool for engagement. Maher describes how the girls, aged six to 13, would cover the school’s walls with paintings after their regular lessons. “Art was what they were craving [...] the walls were covered by art and it’s what they wanted me to look at whenever I came,” Maher tells EnterpriseAM. These classes provided a rare outlet for joy and self-expression in a region where girls are often needed at home for domestic work.

These programs are having a ripple effect vis-à-vis social change. By providing incentives, the program encouraged parents to keep their daughters in school. “When you educate a girl, you educate more than just that girl,” Maher notes. For Maher, seeing these girls find their voices through art was just as fulfilling as any accolade.

Art and young artists in Cairo

Having spent two decades in Om el Donia, Maher is a keen observer of the local art scene, which she describes as having a unique soul. “I love the art scene in Cairo [...] I feel the emotions of the artist [...] I feel that it's so rich that way,” she tells us. “Artists here have so much to draw upon just being here, just having Egypt around you. I think it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Maher praises large-scale initiatives like Art d’Égypte for their cultural enrichment, and believes the next step for the Egyptian art scene is a greater focus on the grassroots. She advocates for more galleries to take risks on young, emerging talents rather than only sticking to established names, citing Maadi’s Arcade Gallery as one such establishment that isn’t afraid to take risks by inviting young artists into its ranks.

To young artists, Maher leaves a piece of advice: “Continue and do not be disappointed. If that's something you want to do, you just keep trying. I don't think that's only in Egypt; I think artists everywhere have to struggle. You just hope that somehow things will fall into place so you can continue your dream. In the back of your mind, maybe you put it aside and then continue when the time is better. You continue in smaller ways, and then they become bigger ways. Just do not give up.”

Maher’s upcoming exhibition at New Cairo’s Maison 69 — organized by Layla El Farouk of Arcade Gallery and set to run from Tuesday, 31 March to Sunday, 5 April — will see the artist display a diverse collection of works that encapsulate her signature style and a journey between her past, present, and future.