Wael Shawky Drama 1882

A natural storyteller, Wael Shawky takes historiographical and literary references as starting points for his concentrated narratives, in which he interweaves fable, fact and fiction. Tackling notions of national, religious and artistic identity through film, performance, painting and sculpture, based on extensive periods of research and enquiry, Shawky frames contemporary culture through the lens of historical tradition and vice versa.

For the Egyptian Pavilion, Shawky has created Drama 1882, a filmed rendition of an original musical play directed, choreographed, and composed by the artist, around Egypt’s nationalist Urabi revolution against imperial influence (1879-82). The year 1882 was when this revolt was crushed by the British, who then went on to occupy Egypt until 1956.

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